The Seto of Benin

The Seto of Benin, numbering approximately 48,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a small Gbe-speaking minority of Benin's Porto-Novo region living alongside the dominant Gun and Yoruba populations in a city the Gun founded as Hogbonu, which rose in the 17th century as capital of the Kingdom of Ajache. They mostly adhere to Ethnoreligion and Gun is their primary language.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Benin
People Cluster: Guinean
Primary Language(s): Gun (guw)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 48,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG012348
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Seto of Benin

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: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

95%
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Gun
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Gun Speakers

Media Resources in Gun:

Films:
TitleLink
JESUSView Film

1 film

Bible Resources in Gun:

Bible Name (Translation)VideoAudioText
1987 Bible Society of Benin✓✓

1 entry

Or check out the Gun bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Seto 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 Seto:
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 Seto of Benin

Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life"
readJohn 4:13-14

Pray that those who don't know Jesus will drink of the living water that only Christ can provide and never thirst again.

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
readJames 4:4

Pray that the lost will be convicted of their friendship with the world, which is hostility toward God, and that they will turn from their sin and embrace the grace and mercy of God through Christ Jesus.

Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
readRomans 5:2

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will rejoice in the hope of glory and be in awe of God's mercy that gives them access to Him through faith.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
readEphesians 1:13-14

Pray that God will work through believers near and far in bringing the lost to Himself, giving them what they need to do the task He has set before them, and helping them rest in Him because He has given them His Spirit.

Seto-Gbe Across Countries (ROP3 - 108879) reported in the following countries:

Strategic Progress Index
All

1 people group

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

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