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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Luo of Tanzania

The Luo of Tanzania, numbering approximately 298,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Western-Nilotic speaking ethnolinguistic group indigenous to western Kenya and northern Tanzania They are an Indigenous people, in the Nilotic people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Neo-Pentecostalism. They primarily speak Dholuo.

Luo in Kenya photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Copyrighted ©️ 2025 Kerry Oslon Used with permission

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Tanzania
People Cluster: Nilotic
Primary Language(s): Dholuo (luo)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Neo-Pentecostalism
Population: 298,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015112
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Luo of Tanzania

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Neo-Pentecostalism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Neo-Pentec… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Dholuo
Language Family: Nilotic

%
Dholuo Speakers

Media Resources in Dholuo:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Dholuo:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Dholuo bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Luo

The Luo 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 Luo

The Luo 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 Luo

The Luo 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 Luo of Tanzania

But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
readIsaiah 59:2

Pray that those who are separated from God will turn to Him in humility and repentance, seeking His forgiveness and the restoration of a right relationship with their Heavenly Father.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
readLamentations 3:23-23

Pray that they will have hope in the Lord, knowing that His compassions never fails and that His mercies are new every morning.

He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken.
readPsalm 62:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be in awe of Jesus, remembering that He is their rock, their fortress, and their salvation.

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.

Dholuo (ROP3 - 115030) 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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