The Nyungwe of Zimbabwe

The Nyungwe of Zimbabwe, numbering approximately 33,500 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic group indigenous to the Manica Province of central Mozambique. They mostly adhere to Animism and Nyungwe is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Zimbabwe
People Cluster: Bantu, Chewa-Sena
Primary Language(s): Nyungwe (nyu)
Primary Religion(s): Animism
Population: 33,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015669
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Pray for the Nyungwe of Zimbabwe

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: Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

55%
%
Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Nyungwe
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Nyungwe Speakers

Media Resources in Nyungwe:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Nyungwe:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
2019 Wycliffe Bible Translators, Inc.✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Nyungwe bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Nyungwe 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 Nyungwe:
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 Nyungwe of Zimbabwe

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
readIsaiah 48:11

Pray that those who have been living for their own glory will turn to the One who is worthy of all praise and find their true identity in Him.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
read2 Peter 3:9

Pray that the lost will not perish but come to repentance and that God's patience and long-suffering will lead them to salvation.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
readPhilippians 1:6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will be assured that God will complete the good work He has begun in them until the day of Christ's return.

But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
read1 Corinthians 15:10–11

Pray that God's people will preach the message of Jesus' death and resurrection and that it will spread among the lost through the selfless witness of believers.

Nyungwe Across Countries (ROP3 - 107571) 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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