The Orma of Kenya

The Orma of Kenya, numbering approximately 87,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are one of the major subgroups of the Oromo people of Ethiopia. They are an Indigenous people in the Oromo people cluster of the Horn of Africa Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Orma and their primary religion is Sunni Islam.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Horn of Africa Peoples
Country: Kenya
People Cluster: Oromo
Primary Language(s): Orma (orc)
Primary Religion(s): Sunni Islam
Population: 87,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG014837
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Orma of Kenya

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Sunni Islam
Religious Affiliation: Islam

99%
%
Sunni Islam Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Orma
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

100%
%
Orma Speakers

Media Resources in Orma:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Orma:

Or check out the Orma bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Orma:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Orma 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 Orma:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Orma are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Orma:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Orma of Kenya

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life"
readJohn 4:13-14

Pray that those who don't know Jesus will drink of the living water that only Christ can provide and never thirst again.

For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
readPsalm 57:10

Pray that God will work, even in the hearts of hard-to-reach people, and that they will rejoice in His steadfast love and faithfulness.

And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
readActs 16:15

Pray that God will bring entire families and households to faith in Him and raise up servant-leaders from among them.

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
readActs 17:32

Ask God to give those He sends to cross cultures wisdom and discernment as they engage in spiritual conversations with those who are curious about the gospel.

Orma Across Countries (ROP3 - 107680) reported in the following countries:

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 Definitions page.

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