The Teso of Uganda

The Teso of Uganda, numbering approximately 3,110,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Uganda. They mostly adhere to Neo-Pentecostalism and Teso is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Uganda
People Cluster: Nilotic
Primary Language(s): Teso (teo)
Primary Religion(s): Neo-Pentecostalism
Population: 3,110,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015143
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Teso of Uganda

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: Neo-Pentecostalism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

—
%
Neo-Pentecostalism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Teso
Language Family: Nilotic

85%
%
Ateso Speakers

Media Resources in Teso:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film
JESUSView Film

2 films

Bible Resources in Teso:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
Ateso Old Version Bible 1961✓✓✓
Bible Society of Kenya✓✓

2 entries

Or check out the Teso bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Teso 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 Teso:
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 Teso of Uganda

For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation.
readPsalm 62:1

Pray that those who are troubled and don't know about the God who saves will hear the good news and find rest in the one true God who can offer salvation for their souls.

All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; they sing praises to your name.
readPsalm 66:4

Pray that the good news of Jesus will advance here and that many will bow down and sing praises to His name.

Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.
readMark 10:29-30

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will know that when they make sacrifices to follow Jesus, He is there with them and will bless them abundantly in this life and in the life to come.

The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
readJohn 1:35-36

Pray for those God sends to cross cultures to share the gospel, that they might faithfully share the good news of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Teso Across Countries (ROP3 - 109975) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

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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