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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Tumbuka of Tanzania

The Tumbuka of Tanzania, numbering approximately 301,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are described as a central Bantu ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the Chitipa and Karonga districts of eastern Mali Batumbuka They are an Diaspora people, with Tumbuka as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the Bantu, Central-South people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples. They mostly adhere to Neo-Pentecostalism and Tumbuka is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Tanzania
People Cluster: Bantu, Central-South
Primary Language(s): Tumbuka (tum)
Primary Religion(s): Neo-Pentecostalism
Population: 301,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015053

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Pray for the Tumbuka of Tanzania

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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Neo-Pentecostalism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Neo-Pentecostalism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Tumbuka
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Tumbuka Speakers

Media Resources in Tumbuka:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Tumbuka:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2002 Bible Society of Malawi✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Tumbuka bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Tumbuka 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 Tumbuka:
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 Tumbuka of Tanzania

"For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God." Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" But he said "What is impossible with man is possible with God."
readLuke 18:25-27

Pray that the lost who think they have everything they need will recognize their spiritual poverty apart from Jesus and turn to Him in faith.

For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the LORD of hosts.
readMalachi 1:11

Pray that they will worship God in spirit and truth, offering Him the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving that He desires.

"And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you"...And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
readMatthew 25:38-40

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and serve others in faithfulness to Him, they will know that by serving others, they are serving Jesus, who is present with them.

Then he said to his disciples, “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."
readMatthew 9:37-38

Pray that the Lord of the harvest will raise up believers to send out into His harvest field, which is ripe and ready.

Tumbuka Across Countries (ROP3 - 110273) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

4 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountry ▼PopulationStrategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
TumbukaPG015683TumbukaZimbabwe16,500Engaged yet UnreachedTumbukaEthnoreligion
TumbukaPG015640TumbukaZambia1,880,000Engaged yet UnreachedTumbukaEthnoreligion
TumbukaPG015053TumbukaTanzania301,000Engaged yet UnreachedTumbukaNeo-Pentecostalism
TumbukaPG015342TumbukaMalawi1,715,000Engaged yet UnreachedTumbukaEthnoreligion

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.

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