The Northern Pashtun of Pakistan

The Northern Pashtun of Pakistan, numbering approximately 18,760,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an Eastern Iranian ethnolinguistic group indigenous to southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan and can also be known as Yusufzai Pashtun, Pakistani Pushtun, Northern Pakhtun, Eastern Pushtun. They are an Indigenous people, in the Pashtun people cluster of the Persian-Median affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Islam - Sunni. They primarily speak Northern Pashto.

Pashtun in United Arab Emirates photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. By Don LaVange - Flickr

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Central Asian Peoples
Country: Pakistan
People Cluster: Pashtun
Primary Language(s): Northern Pashto (pbu)
Primary Religion(s): Islam - Sunni
Population: 18,760,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG024390

Pray for the Northern Pashtun of Pakistan

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: Islam - Sunni
Religious Affiliation: Islam

%
Islam - Sunni Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Northern Pashto
Language Family: Indo-European

%
Northern Pashto Speakers

Bible Resources in Northern Pashto:

Or check out the Northern Pashto bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

Next steps for the Northern Pashtun

The Northern Pashtun 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 Northern Pashtun

The Northern Pashtun 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 Northern Pashtun

The Northern Pashtun 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 Northern Pashtun of Pakistan

The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know over what they stumble.
readProverbs 4:19

Pray that lost people will accept salvation through Christ, turn from destruction, and experience joy in the way of righteousness.

More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
readRomans 5:11

Pray for the gospel to advance and for more people to be brought into God's family through the reconciliation Jesus offers them.

And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
readMatthew 28:18-20

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will have confidence because Jesus has all authority and is with them as they make disciples and teach others about Him.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
readJohn 1:9-10

Pray for those God might send to share the gospel here. Ask that they will grow closer to Jesus and be compelled to share His good news with people who don't know it.

Pashtun, Northern 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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