Ngiri people of Democratic Republic of Congo

"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…"  
I Timothy 2:1,3-4

Once renowned warriors, the Ngbandi-Ngiri peoples today are looked down upon and discriminated against as “those forest people”.

Living in mud and thatch houses on the edge of the largest freshwater wetland area in all of Africa, the Ngbandi-Ngiri are a people living without the knowledge of salvation through Jesus Christ.

Historically, the Ngiri and other people groups of small population size are grouped together under the umbrella of Ngbandi people. (Groups living in northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo, northern Congo and southern Central African Republic) These people have their roots in South Sudan and their history linked with the Zande people.

Fronds from palm trees are woven
together for use as roofing material
and even walls for their houses.

They are farming people with the women growing cassava, maize (corn), groundnuts (peanuts), papaya, and pineapple while the men clear farmland, fish and hunt.

While some sources report that almost 70 percent of the Ngbandi people practice a form of Christian religious activity, this is only to say they reject non-Christian sects such as Buddhism or Islam.  The reality is that very few understand the Gospel, practicing a syncretistic form of religion that involves spiritualism and ancestor worship.


There is an ongoing New Testament Bible translation effort among these people, but until that is complete; no scripture is available in the Ngbandi-Ngiri heart language.

Pray for these “people of the forest” that God would place in their hearts a longing to know Him.

We do not know much about the Ngbandi-Ngiri people – more research needs to be done to help us understand their culture and worldview in order to make a viable plan to plant Gospel seeds among them.

Ask God to make a way to reach isolated villages in this vast and heavily forested area.