For the Teenagers of the TEENS CHURCH, of the Assemblies of God Church Surulere, Lagos, popularly referred to as “HOUSE OF TRANSFORMATION”, it has become a tradition for them to boldly make chastity vow unto God, to continue to say “NO” to all forms of immoral sexual activities and a bold “YES” to remain chaste from all the trappings and allures of Saint Valentine’s enjoyment and pleasures which could lead to defilement and loss of their virginity.
This year’s Chastity Parade of the Church, with the theme “CHASTITY, MY LIFE OF FREEDOM” showcases more than five hundred palm stamps of the teenagers who gathered to restate this genuine commitment to the Almighty God, until God’s time for their marriages.
Underscoring the importance of the vow, the Senior Pastor of the Church, the Reverend Bright Unuane explained that, if families would seek the way of the Lord, they would bring up good children who would change society tomorrow.
He noted that Parents are to look up to God for children who would rise up and become nation’s builders and society changers, so that corruption and sin immorality which have eaten deep in the fabric of the society, would become things of the past.
The Reverend Bright however expressed regrets that, people are now advertising sin with pride, advertising corruption with impunity, so the society has become a broken one but he also gave an assurance that, by the time these children would grow up with this spirit of chastity, they would become nation’s builders and society changers.
“If they take this down to their own families and if their Parents are not Godly, you’ll see children who will turn out to teach their Parents to be Godly, for the Bible says “Train up a child in the way he or she should go and when they are old, they will not depart from the way”, it all depends on the way the Parents train up their children in the homes.
He recalled a Parent who put on “blue film” and watched with his children and stated that nobody would expect such children to grow up and be purified, such children can’t live a life of purity.
Speaking on the way forward for the Teenagers and the Church, the Senior Pastor said, it is for the Parents to direct their children on the way of the Lord and that was the essence of the Chastity Parade, by teaching them the way of the Lord, as the Scripture says, train them and let them know what is good and bad and to work with God.
He reiterated the fact that the society is broken, with moral decadence, going faster every day, coupled by internet and AI manipulations, making everything worse.
“So, Parents need to hold their children very well, direct them on the way to the Lord, let the church also take its stand and teach them the word of God, so that they would follow such a way”.
Reverend Bright emphasized that the Campaign is touching a lot of people, a lot of children, chastity Parade is a very good programme and he is in full support of it, because it is telling the children how to live a life of purity and how to stay chaste, so it will help the children in the future.
Also buttressing the fact, the Pastor of the House of Transformation’s ( the Teens Church ) Elder, Evangelist Chidi Udo also stressed the importance of Chastity in the life of a young boy or a girl, in many ways.
He explained that, a week before Saint Valentine’s day, when the good, the bad and the ugly would happen, on the day, many teenagers would lose their virginity because as far as they are concerned, it’s all about love and having sex.
He noted that, it has become so bad and so uncomfortable as the devil has come down into the world and he is killing, stealing and destroying and even marriages are now becoming more difficult.
“Parents are talking but the children are not listening why? It’s because of the power of sex. In fact, the sex activities have emboldened a lot of boys and girls whether they are in Secondary Schools or in the Universities, in fact, it’s so bad that, there are some men and women who are molesting the teenagers and it’s so painful”.
He told a pathetic story of a thirteen year old girl who had been turned into a sex slave, the girl was taken from Nigeria to Burkina Faso, and was forced to be having sex with twenty people every day and it’s so nauseating, thus asking a question why it should continue to be so, hence the decision to change such narrative by saying a capital “NO” to it and that informs the reason behind putting up the Chastity Programme, to sensitize the public, the Parents, the Church and the youths, that they can keep themselves, and that God can give them the strength for self control, when they keep themselves for marriage, they are increasing their values, they are preventing sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy and they would be able to stand boldly anywhere they are, it also offers them freedom, a true freedom.
He cautioned against indulging in all these immortal activities until it’s time for marriage and even after one is married, one can still remain loyal to one’s Partner, it’s very important.
Pastor Udo noted that, culturally, even if we are not talking about the Bible, our culture supports chastity, whether it is Yoruba, Igbo or Hausa, we are all strong in cultural values, so the only way to maintain this culture, is to keep talking about chastity all the time, not just during Valentine’s day.
“We should keep saying it, Churches should keep talking about it, Schools must hammer on it, wherever we find ourselves. So our theme for this year is “Chastity, My Life of Freedom” and standing behind me, is a board where you have many teenagers who have already signed up to chastity vow, by putting their palm stamps to say “I stand for Chastity and I know it’s going to be difficult but by God’s grace, I am going to keep myself for the Partner of mine”.
The entire Church is also standing with them in prayer, encouraging to say, look! urge on! don’t drop the ball!
He dismissed with the back of his hand, the obnoxious notion that, “there are no more Virgins anywhere, he emphasized that, it’s not true, not everybody is doing it thus setting himself as a perfect example, noting that, until he got married at thirty, he did not do it.
Pastor Udo attested to the fact that, about five hundred of the teenagers took chastity vow last year and this year, more than that number are to take the vow, meaning that they are asking God for enablement to succeed and scale through.
According to him, Valentine should be celebrated with the good overshadowing the bad and the ugly from it.
Also speaking on the impacts of the Programme so far, the Teens Church Pastor, said there has been tremendous impacts, judging by the number of testimonies presented by some of them, about their personal experiences and the pressure they went through and how God helped them to overcome, because each time they were under pressure because of money, coming from the boys or the girls, they would remember that they took chastity vow and God would empower them.
He said, they come so bold to say, oh! that money you want to give me, I would rather not have it and God has never disappointed them, for some of them took the vow when they were in Secondary Schools and are now in the Universities and they are still saying it has emboldened them, some of them are even bold to declare upfront that, they took the vow so don’t dare asking for sex because it won’t work, they also make sure that they don’t go to “clandestine” ( hidden ) places where upfront, immoral decisions had been made, but if anyone takes that kind of decision, definitely, the Almighty God will help that person.
He however solicited the support of the Community in the course of spreading the message, noting that, same message should go to Schools because, according to him, no School that would be proud to say “One of our Students got pregnant”, because it is even going to reduce the value of such a School, it will show that the Parents, the Teachers and the School Authority are careless and nobody would wants to take a child to the School that has that kind of record.
“It’s actually in the best and collective interest of the School, to make sure that they have a clean record with zero pregnancy record but a clear report which would enhance the value of the School and we still have many people who have not soiled themselves, we still have many Virgins, so people should stop saying all girls are corrupt, all boys are, it’s not true, everybody is not doing it, if you want to train your children to be great, that’s the same way I want to train my own too.
“We are in charge of the teenagers and we are telling them “You can stand” so that is our message and we’re very clear about it and with God Almighty in Heaven, in the Book of 1st Corinthians 1:6 which says, we should be holy even as our God is holy, if it was not tenable God would not ask us to do, but He knows better and will always provide the basis for success and I believe that, it will happen.
In his Sermon, the Guest Speaker, a renowned Author, Gospel Film Maker and the Founder, Sexual Chastity Academy, Pastor Victor Olukoju differed from the sinister, mundane and the amorous kind of love often professed during Valentine’s day with a big question, what is Love? He wasted no time in providing an answer, that “God is Love” for the Bible says, “Beloved, let us love one another because God is the supreme Lover and anyone who does not know God, does not love.
So if a person says he or she wants to practice love, such a person should love God because He is the God of purity, holiness and righteousness.
“If you want to celebrate Valentine’s day, you must have to celebrate God, not sin, he admonished.
Pastor Olukoju noted that, the Chastity Programme was meant to encourage the teenagers that, sexual immorality has an after effect, if they choose to say “NO” to sex before marriage, they shall lose nothing but if they go for it, they have everything to lose, including their bodies and sometimes their lives.
“I met a young Lady some time ago, who went through abortion and unfortunately her uterus was perforated and she bled to death, so if you are practicing sexual purity, you are not afraid of HIV, unwanted pregnancy or anything, you will be sure that you are standing with God, in this age and time, when sex is being sold so cheaply.
In his Contribution, the Assistant Pastor of the Teens Church, Brother Chidozie Nnaji explained that, the Campaign is something that gives him more joy because every year, the Church convenes the Programme as a way of reminding the teenagers of their chastity vow, that they need to remain chaste until they get married.
“We have many of them who have testimonies, some Online, with testimonies of how this reminder , every year helps them, to stand strong in the face of trials, when they are tempted to do certain negative things like sexual attractions, they would therefore remember the vows they take every year hence the way of realising that they need to stand strong”.
The Teens Coordinator, Lagos Mainland District of the AGC, Brother Kalu Kalu summed up, that the Programme was organised by the Assemblies of God Church, Surulere, Lagos but explained that the District, has upcoming programmes and that in June, this year, there will be Stakeholders Conference which would involve Parents, the Pastors and Members within the District, where the Teenagers would gather to air their problems and ways to tackling those issues would be proffered.
Emphasising the importance of chastity, Brother Kalu explained that, it has to do with abstinence from sexual immorality and of course, when you look at the Scripture, God created us, wants us to remain chaste and we are teaching our young people to remain chaste for it gives them value, when you look at our topic for the year, it has to do with “Chastity, My Life of Freedom”, it says a lot.
“When you don’t live a life of Chastity, you will “caged” yourself and you cannot be free, this is according to some experiences we have with some of our teenagers, especially, within our District, some of them who engaged in such irresponsible acts, cannot express themselves, they can’t stand in front of people to say one thing or the other, while some of them have realised that being chaste, has helped them to keep themselves until the day God blesses them with their husbands and wives.
The 2026 Chastity Parade of the House of Transformation, AGC, Surulere, Lagos, may have come and gone, but one sure message that would linger, in the ears and minds of the Teenagers, will always be, “don’t follow the multitude to do wrong, dare to be different, stay chaste, don’t allow someone a space in your”Temple”, for God has a complete and a compatible package for you at the appropriate time, don’t scuttle it to avoid a life of everlasting regrets.
