South Sudan is the world’s youngest nation. It gained independence on July 9,  2011, plunged into civil war in 2013, and attained a fragile peace in the midst of 2020, deep poverty, and the fact that most of its school-aged children were not attending school. Its rich culture comprises diverse ethnic groups, including Dinka, Nuer, and Shilluk, who express their identity through cattle traditions, dance, storytelling, and music.

Christianity took root in the land through the efforts of Catholic and Anglican missionaries. Comboni missionaries and Anglican leaders laid the foundation for faith communities that remain central to the national identity. Today, Christianity is the majority religion, but South Sudanese Christian teenagers face significant challenges: poverty, lack of education, tribal divisions, peer pressure to abandon their faith, and exposure to violence.

The former South Sudanese Vice President Riek Machar was placed under house arrest and produced in court in a cage. This could be a serious situation that could return to civil war in the country. The South Sudanese Church is under threat due to political instability—including a current treason trial stirring fears of renewed civil war, an almost bankrupt government unable to provide services, and the influx of refugees from Sudan straining already fragile resources. Without biblical renewal, unity, and discipleship, Christianity will unlikely lose influence among future generations. South Sudanese Christians must return to the biblical call of love, forgiveness, reconciliation, integrity, and endurance in Christ, remembering that the Church is built on Christ as the cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20), not on tribal or political loyalties.