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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Birwa of Botswana

The Birwa of Botswana, numbering approximately 21,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a Sotho-Tswana Bantu tribe indigenous to BotswanaBibirwa They are an Indigenous people, in the Bantu, Sotho-Tswana people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion - Animism. They primarily speak Birwa.

Photo by Google. (2025). Image generated by Gemini 2.5 Flash: Birwa

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Botswana
People Cluster: Bantu, Sotho-Tswana
Primary Language(s): Birwa (brl)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion - Animism
Population: 21,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015215
View on Joshua Project

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Pray for the Birwa of Botswana

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion - Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

%
Ethnoreligion - Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Birwa
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

%
Birwa Speakers

Media Resources in Birwa:

Films:

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Bible Resources in Birwa:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Birwa bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

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Next steps for the Birwa

The Birwa 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 Birwa

The Birwa 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 Birwa

The Birwa 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 Birwa of Botswana

And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
readJohn 3:19

Pray that God will have mercy on those who love the darkness they are walking in and turn from their sin to faith in Christ.

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise).
readEphesians 6:1-2

Pray that God will bring young men and women to faith in Jesus and that the fruit of their faith will be a powerful testimony as they honor their parents. 

"And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you"...And the King will answer them, "Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."
readMatthew 25:38-40

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ and serve others in faithfulness to Him, they will know that by serving others, they are serving Jesus, who is present with them.

O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart.
readPsalm 15:1-2

Ask God to send believers who will go and, with integrity, walk blamelessly and do what is right, speaking truth about the Lord with those who need to learn about His redemption plan.

Birwa (ROP3 - 101485) 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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