The Embu are a farming community on the southern slopes of Mt. Kenya. They live together with the Mbeere people and they and the Mbeere speak two dialects of the same language.
Christianity was brought by CMS (Anglican) missionaries who set up a camp at Kigari in 1910. They started schools, health clinics, and helped with agricultural concerns in addition to evangelism and starting churches. Because of the advantages of education available to them, the Embu and Mbeere peoples have had reasonable development in physical facilities, education, agriculture, animal husbandry and housing.
To the people of old, God, Mwenenyaga, lived on Mt. Kenya which they called Kirinyaga, and had to be appeased by animal sacrifice in special groves left sacred for that purpose. Only the old men could offer sacrifices. This, however, has been replaced by Christianity and the groves dismantled and converted to farmland.
In the early evangelism, the CMS missionaries came to Embu from working with the Gikuyu people. The missionaries had learned the Gikuyu's language, and their helpers were invariably Gikuyu speakers. As a result, they introduced Gikuyu as the language to be used in literacy work, and when Gikuyu scriptures were translated (the New Testament in 1926 and the Bible in 1951), there did not appear to be need for KiEmbu/KiMbeere scripture. It is evident however, that the languages spoken by the people are significantly different from the Gikuyu. Pastors and evangelists normally translate the Gikuyu into KiEmbu/KiMbeere as they preach, the quality of translation being dependent on the level of understanding of Gikuyu by the speaker.
The KiEmbu language has been put in print and several literacy books have been developed, but not introduced in schools. Other works include riddles and proverbs in KiEmbu, and the history of the Embu people. The literacy level in Embu District is above the average for the nation.
Scripture Prayers for the Embu in Kenya.
Profile Source: Anonymous |
People Name General | Embu |
People Name in Country | Embu |
Alternate Names | Embu-Mbeere; Mbere |
Population this Country | 445,000 |
Population all Countries | 445,000 |
Total Countries | 1 |
Indigenous | Yes |
Progress Scale | 5 ● |
Unreached | No |
Frontier People Group | No |
GSEC | 5 (per PeopleGroups.org) |
Pioneer Workers Needed | |
People ID | 11750 |
ROP3 Code | 102911 |
Country | Kenya | ||
Region | Africa, East and Southern | ||
Continent | Africa | ||
10/40 Window | No | ||
National Bible Society | Website | ||
Persecution Rank | Not ranked | ||
Location in Country | Embu county: southeast of Mount Kenya. Source: Ethnologue 2016 |
Country | Kenya |
Region | Africa, East and Southern |
Continent | Africa |
10/40 Window | No |
National Bible Society | Website |
Persecution Rank | Not ranked |
Location in Country | Embu county: southeast of Mount Kenya.. Source: Ethnologue 2016 |
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Primary Religion: | Christianity |
Major Religion ▲ | Percent |
---|---|
Buddhism |
0.00 %
|
Christianity (Evangelical 48.00 %) |
95.00 %
|
Ethnic Religions |
5.00 %
|
Hinduism |
0.00 %
|
Islam |
0.00 %
|
Non-Religious |
0.00 %
|
Other / Small |
0.00 %
|
Unknown |
0.00 %
|
Primary Language | Kiembu (445,000 speakers) |
Language Code | ebu Ethnologue Listing |
Primary Dialect | Embu |
Dialect Code | 3031 Global Recordings Listing |
Language Written | Yes ScriptSource Listing |
Total Languages | 1 |
Primary Language | Kiembu (445,000 speakers) |
Language Code | ebu Ethnologue Listing |
Primary Dialect | Embu |
Dialect Code | 3031 Global Recordings Listing |
Total Languages | 1 |
People Groups | Speaking Kiembu |
Primary Language: Kiembu
Bible Translation ▲ | Status (Years) |
---|---|
Bible-Portions | Yes |
Bible-New Testament | Yes |
Bible-Complete | Yes (2012) |
Bible-NT Audio | Online |
Possible Print Bibles | |
---|---|
Amazon | |
World Bibles | |
Forum Bible Agencies | |
National Bible Societies | |
World Bible Finder | |
Virtual Storehouse |
Resource Type ▲ | Resource Name | Source |
---|---|---|
Audio Recordings | Audio Bible teaching | Global Recordings Network |
Film / Video | Jesus Film: view in Kiembu | Jesus Film Project |
Film / Video | LUMO film of Gospels | Bible Media Group/LUMO |
Film / Video | World Christian Videos | World Christian Videos |
General | Faith Comes By Hearing - Bible in text, audio, video | Faith Comes by Hearing |
General | Gospel resources links | Scripture Earth |
General | YouVersion Bible versions in text and/or audio | YouVersion Bibles |
Mobile App | Android Bible app: Kiembu | YouVersion Bibles |
Mobile App | Download audio Bible app as APK file | Faith Comes by Hearing |
Mobile App | Download audio Bible app from Google Play Store | Faith Comes by Hearing |
Mobile App | iOS Bible app: Kiembu | YouVersion Bibles |
Text / Printed Matter | Literacy primer for Kiembu | Literacy & Evangelism International |
Photo Source | Anonymous |
Profile Source | Anonymous |
Data Sources | Data is compiled from various sources. Learn more. |