Gathering accurate information on the extent to which people groups have been reached with the Gospel is not an easy task, and sometimes different surveys seem to yield different results. For now, we are highlighting what the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board classifies as Unreached Unengaged People Groups, of which there are 2 in Mozambique:
The Chopi on the south coast, with a population of about 900,000.
The Mwinika in the north of Manica Province, about 112,000 people. Two missionary families have been working among this group for a number of years now, but it is a long road requiring much patience to see true fruit.
Other groups, though not classified as Unreached Unengaged, score a 1 or a 2 on the Global Status of Evangelical Christianity scale, meaning there is little or no church planting going on and less than 2% of the population are evangelical Christians. These are groups such as the Koti, Lolo, Lomwe, Yao, Makonde, Karanga and many more, too many to productively mention here. The need is great for more church planting. SIL has been doing Scripture translation in a number of the languages on this list, and in others translation work is still needed. New Tribes Mission and other mission organizations are active in some of these groups, but by no means all.
You can read more, and also access information on Google Earth, by visiting the IMB website here.
You can also contact us should you be interested in reading our own Mozambique Hub resources on the people groups of Northern Mozambique.