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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The West Gurage of Ethiopia

The West Gurage of Ethiopia, numbering approximately 3,005,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Ethiopia, West Gurage region. They are an Indigenous people, in the Ethio-Semitic people cluster of the Horn of Africa Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Orthodox Christianity. They primarily speak Sebat Bet Gurage.

West Gurage in Ethiopia photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Anonymous

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Northern African and Middle Eastern Peoples
Country: Ethiopia
People Cluster: Ethio-Semitic
Primary Language(s): Sebat Bet Gurage (sgw)
Primary Religion(s): Orthodox Christianity
Population: 3,005,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG042740
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the West Gurage of Ethiopia

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Orthodox Christianity
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Orthodox Christianity Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Sebat Bet Gurage
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

%
Sebat Bet Gurage Speakers

Media Resources in Sebat Bet Gurage:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Sebat Bet Gurage:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Sebat Bet Gurage bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the West Gurage

The West Gurage 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 West Gurage

The West Gurage 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 West Gurage

The West Gurage 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 West Gurage of Ethiopia

That they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us.
readActs 17:27

Pray that those who don't yet know Christ will search diligently for God and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.

Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
readPsalm 2:10-11

Pray for the rulers and authorities here to seek the Lord and serve Him only. Pray that the people they lead will be amazed by the work of God in their lives.

Turn, O LORD, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
readPsalm 6:4

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and still struggle with the worries of this life, God will deliver them from worry for the sake of His steadfast love.

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.

Gurage, West (ROP3 - 110758) 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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