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Amharic - አማርኛ | Arabic - عربي
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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Icen of Nigeria

The Icen of Nigeria, numbering approximately 97,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are an ethnolinguistic community of Nigeria . They are an Indigenous people, in the Benue people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Neo-Pentecostalism. They primarily speak Etkywan.

Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. By Anonymous

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-saharan Africa Peoples
Country: Nigeria
People Cluster: Benue
Primary Language(s): Etkywan (ich)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Neo-Pentecostalism
Population: 97,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG013838

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Pray for the Icen of Nigeria

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Christianity - Neo-Pentecostalism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Neo-Pentec… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Etkywan
Language Family: Niger-Congo

%
Etkywan Speakers

Media Resources in Etkywan:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

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Bible Resources in Etkywan:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

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Next steps for the Icen

The Icen 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 Icen

The Icen 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 Icen

The Icen 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 Icen of Nigeria

And he said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many."
readMark 14:23-24

Pray for those who may have heard the gospel but have not yet submitted their lives to Christ, that they will finally see the sacrifice which He made for them and surrender their lives to Him.

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
readRomans 9:16

Pray that the merciful God who is at work in people's hearts will advance His gospel among them.

And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be.”
readGenesis 15:5

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will trust God to keep His promises.

To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel.
readEphesians 6:18b-19

Ask God to give believers He sends to the lost of this people group the boldness and clarity to proclaim the mystery of the gospel in a way that people can understand.

Icen reported in the following countries (ROP3):

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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