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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Swaka of Zambia

The Swaka of Zambia, numbering approximately 130,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are a small ethnic group living today in eastern Zambia. They are an Indigenous people in the Bantu, Central-South people cluster of the Sub-Saharan African Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary language is Lala-Bisa and their primary religion is Ethnoreligion.

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

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-Saharan African Peoples
Country: Zambia
People Cluster: Bantu, Central-South
Primary Language(s): Lala-Bisa (leb)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion
Population: 130,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity
People Group ID: PG015635
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Pray for the Swaka of Zambia

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.

Pray Now!
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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

—
%
Ethnoreligion Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Lala-Bisa
Language Family: Atlantic-Congo

100%
%
Lala-Bisa Speakers

Media Resources in Lala-Bisa:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Lala-Bisa:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Lala-Bisa bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 1), 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.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Frontier Unreached People Group, (LPI: 0), < 0.1% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Recent CP Activity (GSEC: 1), this people group is less than 2% evangelical, some evangelical resources are available, but there has been no active church planting among them within the past two years

Next steps for the Swaka:
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

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Swaka 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 Swaka:
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

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Swaka 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.

Next steps for the Swaka:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Swaka of Zambia

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
readRomans 6:23

Pray that those who do know about God's free gift will hear and believe that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord and that they will joyfully accept this gift.

If I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
readPsalm 139:8

Pray that the lost will recognize God's presence with them wherever they go, put their faith in Christ, and seek to live in a way that honors and glorifies Him.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
readPhilippians 2:5-7

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will imitate His humility in all they do.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
readIsaiah 43:19

Praise the God who is able to make a way forward, even when it seems impossible. Ask Him to do a new thing among this people group specifically and among the nations, raising up believers to go and share the gospel with individuals and places where it has not flourished before.

Swaka Across Countries (ROP3 - 109646) 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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