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ANALYSIS

Chastity pledges - 461 UK teens sign up

DENISE PFEIFFER assesses the first UK Silver Ring Thing tour

As the Silver Ring Thing youngsters flew back to the States recently, they left 461 British and Irish youngsters proudly wearing silver rings, having made a pledge to remain sexually pure until marriage.

In the USA, 20,000 youngsters across the country have already made the pledge to purity and plenty more are queueing up to do so. Here in liberal Britain however, critics have said it wouldn’t work, brandishing the whole idea as too radical, too ignorant of our culture or too Christian.

Yet after a whirlwind six-city tour encompassing Surrey, Birmingham, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin and Manchester, hundreds of youngsters were left in no doubt that, for them, abstinence until marriage makes sense.

The youngsters who attended one of these six shows were the first to attend a Silver Ring Thing event in this country, and many couldn’t wait to tell their friends about the show, most leaving the venues full of enthusiasm for the message.

Far from feeling that they had been preached to or converted, they had found that the three-hour long sound and light extravaganza including sketches, humour and real life stories convincing and thought-provoking, especially as each show was presented by youngsters of a similar age to themselves. Suddenly, everyone is talking about the Silver Ring Thing.

However, in preparing for the UK tour, things hadn’t looked so promising. Two dates had to be cancelled – one because of insufficient interest and another because a venue pulled out after significant media interest. But this fear of controversy and scepticism soon faded once the Silver Ring Thing hit the UK and completed their first show in Claygate, Surrey with their hoped for target attendance of 350.

Here, sixty-six percent of the youngsters decided to purchase a ring costing £10 and in so doing making a pledge to abstain from sex until marriage. In Birmingham and Glasgow, percentages taking the ring were even higher, at 93 percent and 91 percent respectively.

Overall turnout was lower than expected, particularly in Dublin, yet low turnout at some venues wasn’t so much a lack of interest, but rather a lack of pre-planning and organisation. The entire tour had been undertaken as a last minute decision after the organisation were invited over by a group of wealthy American ex-patriots – mothers concerned for the welfare of our young in an over-sexualised culture.

But the organisation of the entire tour was left in the hands of just two of these mothers and, rather than putting some responsibility with British supporters, these two women were left to organise everything. With the tour just weeks away, this proved an almost impossible task.

The Silver Ring Thing, founded in 1995 by US pastor Denny Pattyn, specialises in encouraging young people to remain sexually pure until marriage through the use of multimedia, hi-tech sound and light shows. Akin to pop concerts, SRT memorabilia adorns the entrance to each show, and inside, concert style atmosphere is perpetuated with the use of huge video cameras skimming the front row, streamers, pounding music and fog machines.
But to make this work, behind it has to be a group of dedicated people, passionate about the message they are promoting. What better then, than 30 or so young, good-looking youngsters, all virgins and/or believers in abstinence before marriage, disseminating this message to our often-misinformed youth?
Enter Gordo. His name meaning ‘fat’ in Spanish, he is anything but, with model-like features and a body many guys would envy. It’s not hard to see why both girls and guys in the audience would take to him and listen intently as he spoke about the program. Curious, I asked what venue or experience had been the most memorable and why.

With his arm around his girlfriend and fellow crew member Julie, he reflected, before opting for the first show in Claygate. “Everyone was telling us that it wouldn’t work in the UK and we were ready to prove them wrong,” he said enthusiastically. “It was exciting but also a little worrying because we simply didn’t know what to expect. For many of the crew, it was not just a new country, but also an unfamiliar, somewhat hostile culture."

Gordo smiles as he recalls what happened as the doors opened at the first venue in Claygate. “A group of kids turned up to distribute condoms and to generally cause havoc,” he recalls. “Obviously we had to stop them giving out condoms but in line with our message being for all, we allowed them to stay. They sat together, near the front and at various points, some of them would heckle and try to disrupt us, but we soon noticed that others in their group were silencing them, obviously having decided that they wanted to hear what we had to say.

"Afterwards, a group of us spoke to them and they seemed to have a lot more respect for us. There were no hard feelings, and we were glad that they had been able to see the show.”
Shannon, another member of the SRT crew, recalled similar experiences in Ireland. Having Irish ancestry and this having been her first time in Ireland, it was almost inevitable that she would choose Dublin and Belfast as being the most memorable places visited, but even more memorable were her experiences at the Dublin show.

“I spoke to a group of youngsters before the show and all of them were really unsure about getting a ring and making the pledge,” she recalls. Without judgement or coercion, she spoke to them on their level about many different things. “I didn’t see them again during or after the show,” she says “But when our photos were developed, I saw them in the photo we take of everyone who has not only purchased a ring, but also committed their lives to Christ”.

It is memories like these that keep the SRT tour crew going. After all, it seems to many as though this can’t surely be hard work – travelling with those of a like mind to other countries and promoting a message you believe in. But hard work it had certainly been. Many would be surprised at just how hard these youngsters have worked to bring their message of self-restraint to the sex-obsessed British. Shows would finish at 9.30pm and it would take another two hours to clean, pack and, hardest of all, carry the equipment out of the building and onto the waiting lorry.

After that, they would travel in extremely cramped conditions, through the night to their next destination, arriving there in the early hours of the morning. Sometimes that end destination would be a comfortable room provided by a supporter of the cause, but on other occasions they would have to settle for something more basic such as a shared dorm at a youth hostel.

Early morning starts an essential requirement in a country where getting lost was all too familiar, the crew would often be surviving on less than four hours sleep per night. No surprise then, that early visitors to venues could find bodies curled up in sleeping bags whilst others stepped over them to set up the equipment. In addition to this, each of these youngsters or their parents have had to contribute at least $400 to their airfare. In fact, contrary to some reports, only a small proportion of the SRT's funding comes from the Bush administration – most of their funding comes directly from donations.

Bringing a message of abstinence to the UK hasn’t been an easy ride, but ask each one of the crew, and they would tell you that it has been worthwhile. I asked Shannon what she has learnt from the experience over here and she replies almost immediately: “The most valuable lesson I’ve learnt is to never think things are impossible. In God’s hands, everything is possible. We have seen so many miracles over here … God is working in British youngsters' lives for sure.”

Let’s hope she’s right, because at present, unlike in the States, we have a government hostile to the very idea of celibacy or abstinence as a viable alternative to its preferred graphic sex education. Over here, our children are given “advice” in teenage magazines from agony aunts who often have an agenda. The Senior Medical Advisor of the pro-contraception and abortion organisation Marie Stopes International writes one such advice column. The same magazine boasts full-page adverts on condoms. Meanwhile, groups advocating abstinence only programs are not afforded funding whilst the situation gets continually worse.

It is, of course, important that the SRT do not compromise their message or underestimate the youngsters who turn out to such events. I couldn’t help but wonder why the youngsters are encouraged to shout out “sex is great” when most turning up to such an event wouldn’t really know. Such tactics, presumably based on the assumption that all our youngsters are interested in is sex, could actually backfire, putting attendees under the very same social pressure they need to avoid.

There will always be critics, regardless of how hard a group works or how sound the message is. Some have suggested that abstinence groups such as the SRT will leave children in a state of ignorance about sex, but abstinence advocates realise that nothing could be further from the truth.

In a country where STI’s and teenage pregnancies are the highest in Western Europe, and where such an escalation has occurred alongside the liberal sex education adopted by both media, schools and government, how can things be any worse?
The SRT aren’t saying that this is for everybody. But for those drawn to the message, for those who need to know that there are second chances, and for those who would rather learn about the benefits of abstinence rather than how to put on a condom before they’re even thinking about the anatomy of the opposite sex, maybe Silver Ring is the Thing they have been waiting for.

* Denise Pfeiffer is a freelance journalist based in Leicester

© Christian Family Network
is run by CPO, supported by
Care for the Family, Marriage Resource, Positive Parenting,
Care, Women Alive, Christian Herald and many others.


		ANALYSIS Chastity pledges - 461 UK teens sign up DENISE PFEIFFER assesses the first UK Silver Ring Thing tour As the Silver Ring Thing youngsters flew back to the States recently, they left 461 British and Irish youngsters proudly wearing silver rings, having made a pledge to remain sexually pure until marriage. In the USA, 20,000 youngsters across the country have already made the pledge to purity and plenty more are queueing up to do so. Here in liberal Britain however, critics have said it wouldn’t work, brandishing the whole idea as too radical, too ignorant of our culture or too Christian. Yet after a whirlwind six-city tour encompassing Surrey, Birmingham, Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin and Manchester, hundreds of youngsters were left in no doubt that, for them, abstinence until marriage makes sense. The youngsters who attended one of these six shows were the first to attend a Silver Ring Thing event in this country, and many couldn’t wait to tell their friends about the show, most leaving the venues full of enthusiasm for the message. Far from feeling that they had been preached to or converted, they had found that the three-hour long sound and light extravaganza including sketches, humour and real life stories convincing and thought-provoking, especially as each show was presented by youngsters of a similar age to themselves. Suddenly, everyone is talking about the Silver Ring Thing. However, in preparing for the UK tour, things hadn’t looked so promising. Two dates had to be cancelled – one because of insufficient interest and another because a venue pulled out after significant media interest. But this fear of controversy and scepticism soon faded once the Silver Ring Thing hit the UK and completed their first show in Claygate, Surrey with their hoped for target attendance of 350. Here, sixty-six percent of the youngsters decided to purchase a ring costing £10 and in so doing making a pledge to abstain from sex until marriage. In Birmingham and Glasgow, percentages taking the ring were even higher, at 93 percent and 91 percent respectively. Overall turnout was lower than expected, particularly in Dublin, yet low turnout at some venues wasn’t so much a lack of interest, but rather a lack of pre-planning and organisation. The entire tour had been undertaken as a last minute decision after the organisation were invited over by a group of wealthy American ex-patriots – mothers concerned for the welfare of our young in an over-sexualised culture. But the organisation of the entire tour was left in the hands of just two of these mothers and, rather than putting some responsibility with British supporters, these two women were left to organise everything. With the tour just weeks away, this proved an almost impossible task. The Silver Ring Thing, founded in 1995 by US pastor Denny Pattyn, specialises in encouraging young people to remain sexually pure until marriage through the use of multimedia, hi-tech sound and light shows. Akin to pop concerts, SRT memorabilia adorns the entrance to each show, and inside, concert style atmosphere is perpetuated with the use of huge video cameras skimming the front row, streamers, pounding music and fog machines. But to make this work, behind it has to be a group of dedicated people, passionate about the message they are promoting. What better then, than 30 or so young, good-looking youngsters, all virgins and/or believers in abstinence before marriage, disseminating this message to our often-misinformed youth? Enter Gordo. His name meaning ‘fat’ in Spanish, he is anything but, with model-like features and a body many guys would envy. It’s not hard to see why both girls and guys in the audience would take to him and listen intently as he spoke about the program. Curious, I asked what venue or experience had been the most memorable and why. With his arm around his girlfriend and fellow crew member Julie, he reflected, before opting for the first show in Claygate. “Everyone was telling us that it wouldn’t work in the UK and we were ready to prove them wrong,” he said enthusiastically. “It was exciting but also a little worrying because we simply didn’t know what to expect. For many of the crew, it was not just a new country, but also an unfamiliar, somewhat hostile culture." Gordo smiles as he recalls what happened as the doors opened at the first venue in Claygate. “A group of kids turned up to distribute condoms and to generally cause havoc,” he recalls. “Obviously we had to stop them giving out condoms but in line with our message being for all, we allowed them to stay. They sat together, near the front and at various points, some of them would heckle and try to disrupt us, but we soon noticed that others in their group were silencing them, obviously having decided that they wanted to hear what we had to say. "Afterwards, a group of us spoke to them and they seemed to have a lot more respect for us. There were no hard feelings, and we were glad that they had been able to see the show.” Shannon, another member of the SRT crew, recalled similar experiences in Ireland. Having Irish ancestry and this having been her first time in Ireland, it was almost inevitable that she would choose Dublin and Belfast as being the most memorable places visited, but even more memorable were her experiences at the Dublin show. “I spoke to a group of youngsters before the show and all of them were really unsure about getting a ring and making the pledge,” she recalls. Without judgement or coercion, she spoke to them on their level about many different things. “I didn’t see them again during or after the show,” she says “But when our photos were developed, I saw them in the photo we take of everyone who has not only purchased a ring, but also committed their lives to Christ”. It is memories like these that keep the SRT tour crew going. After all, it seems to many as though this can’t surely be hard work – travelling with those of a like mind to other countries and promoting a message you believe in. But hard work it had certainly been. Many would be surprised at just how hard these youngsters have worked to bring their message of self-restraint to the sex-obsessed British. Shows would finish at 9.30pm and it would take another two hours to clean, pack and, hardest of all, carry the equipment out of the building and onto the waiting lorry. After that, they would travel in extremely cramped conditions, through the night to their next destination, arriving there in the early hours of the morning. Sometimes that end destination would be a comfortable room provided by a supporter of the cause, but on other occasions they would have to settle for something more basic such as a shared dorm at a youth hostel. Early morning starts an essential requirement in a country where getting lost was all too familiar, the crew would often be surviving on less than four hours sleep per night. No surprise then, that early visitors to venues could find bodies curled up in sleeping bags whilst others stepped over them to set up the equipment. In addition to this, each of these youngsters or their parents have had to contribute at least $400 to their airfare. In fact, contrary to some reports, only a small proportion of the SRT's funding comes from the Bush administration – most of their funding comes directly from donations. Bringing a message of abstinence to the UK hasn’t been an easy ride, but ask each one of the crew, and they would tell you that it has been worthwhile. I asked Shannon what she has learnt from the experience over here and she replies almost immediately: “The most valuable lesson I’ve learnt is to never think things are impossible. In God’s hands, everything is possible. We have seen so many miracles over here … God is working in British youngsters' lives for sure.” Let’s hope she’s right, because at present, unlike in the States, we have a government hostile to the very idea of celibacy or abstinence as a viable alternative to its preferred graphic sex education. Over here, our children are given “advice” in teenage magazines from agony aunts who often have an agenda. The Senior Medical Advisor of the pro-contraception and abortion organisation Marie Stopes International writes one such advice column. The same magazine boasts full-page adverts on condoms. Meanwhile, groups advocating abstinence only programs are not afforded funding whilst the situation gets continually worse. It is, of course, important that the SRT do not compromise their message or underestimate the youngsters who turn out to such events. I couldn’t help but wonder why the youngsters are encouraged to shout out “sex is great” when most turning up to such an event wouldn’t really know. Such tactics, presumably based on the assumption that all our youngsters are interested in is sex, could actually backfire, putting attendees under the very same social pressure they need to avoid. There will always be critics, regardless of how hard a group works or how sound the message is. Some have suggested that abstinence groups such as the SRT will leave children in a state of ignorance about sex, but abstinence advocates realise that nothing could be further from the truth. In a country where STI’s and teenage pregnancies are the highest in Western Europe, and where such an escalation has occurred alongside the liberal sex education adopted by both media, schools and government, how can things be any worse? The SRT aren’t saying that this is for everybody. But for those drawn to the message, for those who need to know that there are second chances, and for those who would rather learn about the benefits of abstinence rather than how to put on a condom before they’re even thinking about the anatomy of the opposite sex, maybe Silver Ring is the Thing they have been waiting for. * Denise Pfeiffer is a freelance journalist based in Leicester © Christian Family Network is run by CPO, supported by Care for the Family, Marriage Resource, Positive Parenting, Care, Women Alive, Christian Herald and many others.