Young females retreat for purity

The women of the Diamond Evangelical Church women’s ministry believe that sexual and spiritual purity are necessary to become women of virtue and wisdom.{{more}}

In an effort to create the next generation of virtuous and wise women, the ministry group held a weekend purity retreat dubbed “It’s never to late to be pure”, at the Layou Miracle church retreat centre, this past weekend.

Girls from 13 to 25 years were taught not only about the importance of staying sexually pure, but the implications of sex at an early age.

“One of the things that we realize is that in our own lives, sex played a major role, in terms of the defeat that we experienced as young women,” Sheree Dennie Edwards, member of the women’s ministry, told SEARCHLIGHT on Saturday.

The idea for the retreat came out of a women’s ministry meeting where the group discussed the importance of waiting upon God.

“We just wanted to use our message, our stories and deposit our own lives into these young women to help them realize that they can wait and they can remain pure,” Dennie Edwards said.

The retreat explored topics such as physical, sexual and verbal abuse, Teenage and unwanted pregnancies – the effects and consequences, Pornography and the male perspective.

The girls also took part in a “gripe session” which was fashioned to help them open up more and discuss their personal problems and to seek individual guidance.

“We set them up in a dark room where they could feel comfortable, not having someone look directly in their faces, where they can say what exactly is on their minds, things that would have affected them emotionally or physically,” Shevon Smith, member of the ministry explained.

Speaking to the participants, they related that the sessions so far have been educational and enlightening.

Speaking on what she learnt about pornography, 25-year-old Chariese Chance said: “Some people might think, ‘Well I don’t watch it’, but you read it, you might not be aware, but it’s porn. Sooner or later we might want to experiment.”

Shebby-Ann Dennie, another participant related that as a young Christian woman it is important to stay pure as she has been taught that “God will reward you for keeping your purity.” She added that she likes the concept of the programme, which is that even though you are no longer a virgin, you can chose to start over and stay pure until you are married.

Limorha Jacobs, another participant, stated that the she learnt a lot which she can take back to her church and inform the males of the importance of remaining pure.

Sherrie Dennie Edwards said that at the end of the retreat, the group hopes that the girls will take away three things. That their bodies are the temple of the Lord and they should keep that temple free from anything unclean, whether sex or alcohol or any other substance; take away knowledge of sexual and physical abusive practices and be able to make better choices.

“I think when they leave here, they will be more ready for a relationship when the time comes,” Gweneth Dennie Alexis, another member of the ministry group said, adding that she would have benefited greatly from a similar programme had one been run when she was younger.

Dennie-Edwards disclosed that the group has not considered doing a similar retreat for males, but stated that they have encouraged the men’s ministry group of their church to follow in their footsteps, and added that as the church on a whole, should do similar programmes for their youth.

She further stated that a survey conducted by the group indicated that over 40 per cent of women said that there was no programme at their church specifically targeted to purity.

The women of the ministry will continue to keep in contact with the girls and offer guidance to those that need; they plan to make the event an annual one.