The Tiene of Congo, Democratic Republic of the

The Tiene of Congo, Democratic Republic of the, numbering approximately 111,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Bantu people of western DRC associated with the Congo River and adjacent inland country around Bolobo, whose Tiene language, also called Tiini or Tende, belongs to the Teke-related Bantu languages. They mostly adhere to Roman Catholicism and Tiene is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Tiene

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of the
People Cluster: Bantu, Central-South
Primary Language(s): Tiene (tii)
Primary Religion(s): Roman Catholicism
Population: 111,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG014740
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Tiene of Congo, Democratic Republic of the

Join others around the world in praying for the lost to be saved, the gospel to advance, the global Church to grow, and for laborers to be sent out and sustained in the harvest.

Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Roman Catholicism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

73%
%
Roman Catholicism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tiene
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Tiene Speakers

Media Resources in Tiene:

Films:

No film resources are listed for this language.

Bible Resources in Tiene:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Or check out the Tiene bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Tiene are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Tiene:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

Pray specifically for the Tiene of Congo, Democratic Republic of the

For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
readLuke 19:10

Pray that those who are lost will respond to the One who came to seek and save the lost, and experience the joy of being found.

There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
readPsalm 19:3

Pray that God will lead them to His Word, and where it is not available, ask that He will raise up those who will produce gospel media in their heart language.

Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
readActs 2:47

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, God will use their faith and their church community as a testimony to the watching world and grow His Church.

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.
readEphesians 6:18b-19

Ask God to give believers He sends to the lost of this people group the boldness and clarity to proclaim the mystery of the gospel in a way that people can understand.

Tiene Across Countries (ROP3 - 110047) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Data Standards section.

Scroll to Top