Can Silver Ring Thing help your teenager? - CFN Newsletter Week 124

CHRISTIAN FAMILY NETWORK NEWSLETTER 124

> Silver Ring Thing - new US chastity campaign
> News:
> 1,000-mile walk for YFC student project
> Diocese launches 'mission-shaped' website
> New booklet for carers of people with learning disabilities
> Sites:
> SafeKids - helping your children stay safe
> Depressed? Get help and advice from a Christian perspective
> ... and express your faith in a QuiltArt challenge
> Troubled With - advice on tough issues from Focus on the Family
> Marriage MOT: Shared experiences
> You've got to laugh: The weight loss hymn?
> Members' Zone latest

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Greetings from the sunny south coast!

We hope you enjoy this latest update, packed with advice, encouragement, inspiration and fun.

Don't forget - you're welcome to send us your ideas for issues you'd like CFN to include material on; your events for inclusion and anything else you'd like to share with others.

We'd appreciate your prayers as we continue discussing ways to take CFN and Families Together on to the next level. Watch this space!

Enjoy the Bank Holiday - and if you've got Sky Sports, tune in to Brighton v Bristol City on Sunday afternoon ... I'll be the one in the blue and white jester's hat cheering the Seagulls on!

Take care

Russ Bravo
Christian Family Network
info@cfnetwork.co.uk
http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk

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ANALYSIS

Can a silver ring help
teenagers say 'no'?

• FIONA VEITCH SMITH looks at the Silver Ring Thing - the imported US programme aimed at preaching abstinence and making chastity cool for teenagers
  

THE British media have dubbed it the ‘new American virginity cult’; now it’s come to our shores and people are taking notice. BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 4 and Channel 4’s Richard and Judy have all given prime spots to the Silver Ring Thing, and the phone lines have been buzzing.

“I find it quite strange that this American organisation should come to Britain and preach. Don’t they understand how multicultural this country is? Saying ‘Oh God says this is the way it has to be’ is not going to carry any weight for the people of other or no religion, is it?” asks ‘evil giraffe’ on the Radio 2 website following a discussion on the Jeremy Vine Show.

“I don’t think it will work in England,” says a young woman in a vox pop conducted by the Richard & Judy Show. Richard himself chips in with: “But will it work in bawdy Britain? It’s different from the States where Christianity is more fundamentalist.”

But this is just one side of the story. Since the BBC2 documentary American Virgins was aired earlier this year, the offices of the Silver Ring Thing (SRT) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have been inundated with over 300 e-mails from Britons asking the team to come the the UK.

It’s been given the nod by local abstinence programmes as well. Dr Richard Barr, director of Love for Life, Northern Ireland says: “The concept behind Silver Ring Thing is a positive one. I don’t know enough about the specific programme to comment on that, particularly how the American style will transpose to the British context, but it highlights to policy-makers the need to support kids to delay sex. All the media hype around the Silver Ring Thing in the secular press is encouraging discussion between parents and kids and this is incredibly positive.

“But in the end it’s the kids who will be the judge of whether it’s a success or not. They will accept it or reject it. And if they accept it, they will be the ones to carry it forward and create pressure for policy-makers to respond.”

Dr Chris Richards of Lovewise in Newcastle upon Tyne comments: “The tour will allow young people around the country to hear something that they may never have heard before. They will hear that keeping sex for that committed relationship of marriage is physically healthy, emotionally wise and morally right. I will be praying that many of those attending will decide to make that pledge of virginity until marriage. Through such decisions their marriages will be blessed, our society will be stronger and, most importantly, God will be honoured as his ways are respected.”

Denny Pattyn, founder of SRT, took time out of his promotional tour to speak to the Christian Herald. “Our goal is to saturate communities. We are trying to create task forces and community groups in strategic cities. The goal is to do enough of these shows that a significant number of schools in the community have students wearing rings. It is a situation where abstinence becomes the norm rather than the exception.”

Parents are also included in the programme with dedicated pre-show seminars that inform them of the pressures their children are up against, and give them practical tips on how to talk to kids about sex.

The ring (sold at the shows for £10) is central to the SRT programme. At the end of a presentation, young people are invited to pledge their abstinence and wear a ring. They are encouraged to wear it until their wedding night, when they will replace it with a gold one and have sex (hopefully) for the first time.

Denny explains the significance: “When temptation comes, you look down on your finger and you remember the years of wearing it and you walk away from temptation. That’s the power of the ring. And that’s the power of the Silver Ring Thing.”

A 12-step follow-up programme that includes e-mail support, accountability partners, and ‘group dating’ weekends, ensures that this is not just a hit and run exercise.

“We work really hard in following up with each young person, saturating their life. We go after their friends, their community, their church, their family … so that they are able to stay abstinent,” says Denny.

A 30-strong team of what the BBC 2 documentary calls ‘hardcore young virgins’ will fly into Britain to present the shows, working alongside British youngsters who will hopefully continue with the programme when the Americans go back over the Pond.

The SRT tour is being hosted by churches in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Belfast and Dublin. The high-octane, teen-friendly road show preaches the message through music, drama and personal testimony, and will kick off on 23 June with a concert by Rebecca St James, and end in Manchester on, suitably, 4 July.

Church or other groups of five or more people are encouraged to pre-register with the contacts given on the SRT website.

More info:

www.silverringthing.com
www.loveforlife.org.uk
e-mail: info@lovewise.org.uk

• Fiona Veitch Smith is a journalist based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne

• Has the Silver Ring Thing made a difference to young people in the US and Canada? Margaret Storey gives her view and some significant statistics in our Resources section at http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/resources.asp

> THIS WEEK'S NEWS

> 1,000-mile walk for YFC student project

One hundred Youth for Christ (YFC) staff, volunteers and supporters will collectively walk more than 1,000 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats on 6 June. They'll be aiming to raise £10,000 towards a new student project that police say has dramatically reduced crime in Crieff.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/news.asp for the full story

> Diocese launches 'mission-shaped' website

The Anglican diocese of Portsmouth has relaunched its website to tap into the spirituality of today's generation, often more comfortable on the computers than in a church.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/resources.asp for the full story

> New booklet for carers of people with learning disabilities

The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities has launched a new booklet for carers of people with learning disabilities.

Go to http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/news.asp for the full story

> MARRIAGE MOT

> Check out our archived marriage tips in the Members' Zone, plus stacks more marriage resources at http://www.2-in-2-1.co.uk

Shared experiences

It’s well known that a good way to build up a team is to give the people in it a project to work on.

As they spend time together, and work for a common purpose they get to know each other better and learn how to make positive use of their different skills and gifts.

Some of the best times in our marriage have been when we’ve worked together like this, perhaps decorating a room, or planning a party or a day out for the children. It’s good too to have times when you can just relax together.

How do you like to relax and unwind? How does your loved one relax and let the stress of life slip away? Do you do it in the same way or are you different? Have you talked about this? There's no time like the present to share with each other how you like to relax and recharge your batteries.

“All work and no play makes Jack (or Jill) a dull boy (girl)”.

> EVENTS

> YOU'VE GOT TO LAUGH ...

The weight loss hymn

"We had just had a "Weighdown Workshop" and many people in our church lost weight. During announcement time we congratulated the participants and made a big deal out of their weight loss. It was about that time we all realized there had been a typo in the bulletin item just below it.

"Instead of listing I Am Thine O Lord the bulletin listed the next song as I Am Thin O Lord." (Angie)

Pulpit Bloopers, Sermon Fodder Ministries www.sermonfodder.com

> CHRISTIAN FAMILY NETWORK THIS WEEK
(MEMBERS' ZONE) - http://www.cfnetwork.co.uk/members/default.asp

> Advice

> Kate's Marriage advice - shared experiences
> Eric Spellmann on backing up your computer

> Resources

> Can Silver Rings help our teens stay chaste?
> Multi-millionaire businessman Martin Clarke on how he found Jesus turned his life upside down
> Humour: the hotel and the complimentary soaps

> News

> 1,000-mile walk for YFC student project
> Diocese launches 'mission-shaped' website
> New booklet for carers of people with learning disabilities

> News extra: LIFE anger over Government contraception campaign PLUS News in brief

> Top sites this week

> SafeKids - helping your children stay safe
> Depressed? Get help and advice from a Christian perspective
> ... and express your faith in a QuiltArt challenge
> Troubled With - advice on tough issues from Focus on the Family
> Understanding your teenager - you can, honest!

> Events: What's on near you

> Webwatch index: more than 700 sites categorised at your fingertips

> Site Search Engine: the easy way to trawl our 1,000-page plus archives

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