The Anglican archbishop in South Sudan says harsh economic trends in the country have placed a challenge on the Church to reach out to youths, including the jobless. He says he wants the Church to teach the youths about 'character'.

In an interview after the launch of a 'transformation of character' conference last week, Bishop Daniel Deng Bul observed that the current trends among the youth were not pleasing and called for a shift in the manner churches' approach in order to reach the youth.

“At the moment, the majority of our youths are lost in the sins of this world that do not add any substance to the development agenda of this country," he said.

"With all due respect to my mentors and the respectable men and women of God, I believe and as a church, we feel there has been a high level of concentration on miracles as opposed to the transformation of characters of our people and that is why we have launched this campaign. We have to reach out to the people of our people through messages that influence a change of character in our people, which is the key to national development,” he said.

The top religious leader explained said the nation needed a formidable church to counter the frustrations of unemployment among the youth and poverty through messages of hope with a focus on activities to promote entrepreneurship.

He said the Church felt that the call to a transformed character among citizens would be the best for citizens as that would help them live responsible and productive lives.

“We need to provide guidance to our youths and the Church without ceasing as that is the message from our leaders, and this is our inspiration to move the nation into a transformation of character season that will see a harvest of responsible behaviour,” he stressed.

File photo: Archbishop Daniel Deng