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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Makonde of Tanzania

The Makonde of Tanzania, numbering approximately 1,930,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a central Bantu ethnic group indigenous to southeast Tanzania and northern Mozambique. They are an Indigenous people, in the Bantu, Makua-Yao people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Makonde.

Makonde in Tanzania photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Ton Rulkens - Flickr Ton Rulkens - Flickr Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-saharan Africa Peoples
Country: Tanzania
People Cluster: Bantu, Makua-Yao
Primary Language(s): Makonde (kde)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 1,930,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG014978
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Makonde of Tanzania

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Makonde
Language Family: Niger-Congo

%
Makonde Speakers

Media Resources in Makonde:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Makonde:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Makonde bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Makonde

The Makonde are Unengaged and Unreached, 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.

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

Next steps for the Makonde

The Makonde 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.

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

Next steps for the Makonde

The Makonde 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.

Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Makonde of Tanzania

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRom 6:23

Pray that those who haven't heard yet will hear and believe that the wages of their sin†is†death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them.
readPsalm 104:8

Pray that they will see the hand of God in the beauty and order of the natural world, and that they will worship Him as the Creator and Sustainer of all things.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
read1 Peter 2:9

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will embrace their identity as God's chosen people, royal priests, and holy nation, living out their faith with purity and devotion.

And he said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
readLuke 10:2

Ask God to send out laborers into His harvest field, raising up believers from around the world to go and proclaim the kingdom of God with those who need to hear it.

Makonde (ROP3 - 106097) 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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