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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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Chinese (Traditional) - 中文（繁體) | French - Français
German - Deutsch | Gujarati - ગુજરાતી
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Portugese - Português | Russian - Русский
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Shahara of Saudi Arabia

The Shahara of Saudi Arabia, numbering approximately 47,000 people, are Unengaged and Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic group inhabiting the coastal towns and the mountains and wilderness areas upland from Salalah in the Dhofar Governorate in southwestern Oman. They are an Diaspora people, in the Arab, Arabian people cluster of the Arab World affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Shehri.

Shahara in Saudi Arabia photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Vinod Thadhani - Pixabay

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: North Africa and Middle East Peoples
Country: Saudi Arabia
People Cluster: Arab, Arabian
Primary Language(s): Shehri (shv)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 47,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): No Evangelicals, Churches or Resources
People Group ID: PG042800
View on Joshua Project

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Shehri
Language Family: Afro-Asiatic

%
Shehri Speakers

Media Resources in Shehri:

Films:

No entries found for: Shehri(shv). Help build some!

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Shehri:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Shehri bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Shahara

The Shahara 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 Shahara

The Shahara 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 Shahara

The Shahara 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 Shahara of Saudi Arabia

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.
readGenesis 3:15

Pray that those without Christ will hear the words of Genesis 1-3 in their own language, and desire to know their Creator and His provision of salvation.

There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
readPsalm 19:3

Pray that God will lead them to His Word, and where it is not available, ask that He will raise up those who will produce gospel media in their heart language.

How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.
readPsalm 119:9

Pray that as young men place their faith in Jesus, they will walk in purity and live according to God's Word.

And Jesus said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men." And immediately they left their nets and followed him.
readMark 1:17-18

Pray that God will raise up believers from this place and/or other cultures nearby to proclaim the gospel to those who desperately need to encounter it.

Jibbali (ROP3 - 108895) 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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