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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Vezo of Madagascar

The Vezo of Madagascar, numbering approximately 621,000 people, are Engaged yet Unreached. They are an indigenous community of Madagascar; a dialect subgroup of Sakalava Malagasy (skg) . They are an Indigenous people, in the Malagasy people cluster of the Malay Peoples affinity bloc. Their primary religion is Ethnoreligion - Animism. They primarily speak Malagasy, Sakalava.

Vezo in Madagascar photo
Photo courtesy of Joshua Project. Photo Source: Jean-Louis Vandevivère - Wikimedia Jean-Louis Vandevivère - Wikimedia Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: Sub-saharan Africa Peoples
Country: Madagascar
People Cluster: Malagasy
Primary Language(s): Malagasy, Sakalava (skg)
Primary Religion(s): Ethnoreligion - Animism
Population: 621,000
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): Engaged yet Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): Less than 2% Evangelical, No Active CP Activity
People Group ID: PG048615

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Pray for the Vezo of Madagascar

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Ethnoreligion - Animism
Religious Affiliation: Ethnoreligion

%
Ethnoreligion - Animism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Malagasy, Sakalava
Language Family: Austronesian

%
Malagasy, Sakalava Speakers

Media Resources in Malagasy, Sakalava:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Malagasy, Sakalava:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Malagasy, Sakalava bible resources at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Next steps for the Vezo

The Vezo 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 Vezo

The Vezo 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 Vezo

The Vezo 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 Vezo of Madagascar

The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
readPsalm 19:1

Pray that those who are lost will look to the heavens and see the glory of God displayed, leading them to seek Him and know Him as their Creator and Savior.

After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
readLuke 5:27-28

Prat that God will prepare many hearts to meet Him when He says, “Follow Me!” and that they will respond in faith, leaving everything behind to follow Him.

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.

There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.
readMark 7:15

Pray for Christians to take any opportunity to share the hope of Jesus with lost people here, praying they will be wise like Jesus as they share the truth about what can defile people and what can make them clean.

Vezo 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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