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The Karanga of Mozambique

The Karanga of Mozambique, numbering approximately 36,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Shona dialect subgroup of southern Mozambique and the Zimbabwe borderlands, descended from the Karanga founders of Great Zimbabwe and the fifteenth-century Mutapa empire that once ruled the Zimbabwe plateau and beyond. They mostly adhere to Animism and Shona is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Mozambique
People Cluster: Bantu, Shona
Primary Language(s): Shona (sna)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 36,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015381

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Pray for the Karanga of Mozambique

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.

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

60%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Shona
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Shona Speakers

Media Resources in Shona:

Films:
Title Link
JESUS View Film
JESUS View Film
Magdalena View Film

3 films

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Shona:

Bible Name (Translation) Video Audio Text
Union Shona ✓ ✓

1 entry

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Shona bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Karanga 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 Karanga:
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 Karanga of Mozambique

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
readRomans 6:4

Pray that those who need to surrender their lives to Christ will confess their sins and trust in Him, being united with Him in His death and resurrection, walking in newness of life.

Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was the first convert to Christ in Asia."
readRomans 16:5

Pray for houses to be meeting places for Christians and that God will advance the gospel and grow His Church through natural familial and community relationships.

For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and our labor would be in vain.
read2 Thessalonians 3:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will persevere according to God's command, walk in faith, and be strong so that they can resist the evil one’s deception.

Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!
readPsalm 149:3

Pray that God will send His people across cultures to share the gospel so that those who don't yet know the truth about Him might praise His name and share the hope of Christ with others.

Karanga Across Countries (ROP3 - 104646) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index

All

2 people groups

Photo People Group ID Name Country Population ▼ Strategic Progress Index Language Religion
Shona-Karanga PG015659 Shona-Karanga Zimbabwe 2,475,000 No Longer Unreached Shona Protestantism
Karanga PG015381 Karanga Mozambique 36,500 Engaged yet Unreached Shona Animism

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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