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The Venda of South Africa

The Venda of South Africa, numbering approximately 1,255,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a composite Bantu people of northeastern South Africa descended from several groups that migrated through Zimbabwe and united in the Soutpansberg region under a shared Venda identity. They mostly adhere to Protestantism and Venda is their primary language.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite: Venda

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: South Africa
People Cluster: Bantu, Southeastern
Primary Language(s): Venda (ven)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 1,255,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG015546
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Pray for the Venda of South Africa

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: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

60%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Venda
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Venda Speakers

Media Resources in Venda:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Venda:

No Bible resources are listed for this language.

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Venda bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Venda 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.

Next steps for the Venda:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Venda of South Africa

For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.
readPsalm 97:9

Pray that those who don't yet know Him will recognize the Lord as the Most High and turn from spiritual darkness to worship Him above all else.

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth.
readPsalm 67:4

Pray that God will use ways from in-person witnesses to digital gospel resources to bring the joy of His salvation to everyone so that they can be glad in Him and sing for joy.

And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.
readActs 16:15

Pray that God will bring entire families and households to faith in Him and raise up servant-leaders from among them.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
readPsalm 8:1

Pray that God will raise up people who love Him and are able and willing to go to and share the hope of the gospel with those who don't know it. Pray that everyone will see His name as majestic in all the earth!

Venda Across Countries (ROP3 - 110546) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

2 people groups

PhotoPeople Group IDNameCountryPopulation ▼Strategic Progress IndexLanguageReligion
VendaPG015546VendaSouth Africa1,255,000No Longer UnreachedVendaProtestantism
VendaPG015684VendaZimbabwe120,000No Longer UnreachedVendaAnimism

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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