The Bari of Uganda

The Bari of Uganda, numbering approximately 137,000 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are a Nilotic Karo tribe indigenous to South Sudan and Uganda. They are an Indigenous people, in the Nilotic people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Christianity - Neo-Pentecostalism. They primarily speak Bari.

Bari in Democratic Republic of the Congo photo
Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Bari

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Uganda
People Cluster: Nilotic
Primary Language(s): Bari (bfa)
Primary Religion(s): Christianity - Neo-Pentecostalism
Population: 137,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 2% or Greater but Less than 5% Evangelical
People Group ID: PG015075
View on Joshua Project

Pray for the Bari of Uganda

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: Christianity - Neo-Pentecostalism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

%
Christianity - Neo-Pentec… Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Bari
Language Family: Nilotic

%
Bari Speakers

Media Resources in Bari:

Films:

Bible Resources in Bari:

Or check out the Bari bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Next steps for the Bari

The Bari 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 Bari

The Bari 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 Bari

The Bari 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 Bari of Uganda

And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
readExodus 14:22

Pray that the God who split the sea so that the Israelites might pass through would do another great work among these people, softening the hearts of those who remain lost to the good news and saving them from their sins.

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
read2 Timothy 2:2

Pray that the lost will come to faith in Christ and be discipled in the truth of the gospel, becoming faithful followers of Jesus who, in turn, make disciples themselves.

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
readColossians 4:6

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, their speech will always be gracious and ready to answer for the hope which is within them.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
readJohn 3:16

Pray that God will send and sustain believers to cross cultures and share the gospel with the lost. Ask that He will give them His heart for the lost and that many will believe in Him and not perish but have eternal life.

Bari (ROP3 - 101283) 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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