Taking place 13th – 19th October 2019, Mothers' Union and other Christian organisations working for the needs of all those affected by prisons will join together to encourage churches and individuals to pray.
As Mothers’ Union members search within their communities to see where their support and work is most needed the plight of orphaned children is often one of the areas in which they will look to offer their support and care. This can be demonstrated in many ways from donating clothes, to funding education and even to running orphanages. Many Mothers’ Union groups across the world will consider the care of orphans to be a core part of their work.
The ‘Vicoba’ programme merges two approaches (Church and Community Mobilisation (CCM) with Village Savings and Loans (VSL) groups) which aim to support churches and dioceses in mobilising their own resources to bring change from within their communities. The first year of the programme was a huge success with savings group members across 13 dioceses saving over £32,000, some of which has helped to pay for church improvements and community initiatives.
The Safe Car Wash app, which allows drivers to respond to a check list of key factors that may suggest modern slavery or labour exploitation in hand car washes, has been downloaded 8,225 times since its launch by the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales last year.
This year’s theme for the month of pryaer is ‘From a little seed’ with Matthew 13:31-32 and the parable of the mustard seed being used as the keynote scripture. We encourage our members, churches and all those involved in the children’s ministry to pray for the work of their toddler groups as they reach out to serve the needs of families in the local community.
The books were duplicate sets of children’s books, one copy of which will be lent to a child to take home and then the same book will be read simultaneously by their relation in Hydebank Wood - be it the child’s mother, grandmother, sister, aunt etc. The project is called “Read Together” as, by reading the same book at the same time, the adult and child will have something in common to talk about on the next family visit or even during home telephone calls.
Back in 1999 the Alton Child Contact Centre was born out of a Millenium churches meeting as a partnership between the Mothers Union in the Alton Deanery and the Methodist Church in Alton and flourishes as such today, nearly two decades on. The Child Contact Centre in Hook, to support the waiting lists at Basingstoke and Fleet, then opened in 2009 as a Mothers Union project in Odiham Deanery, so a decade of service there, and then we stepped into Basingstoke when the team there retired, supported by a team drawn from members from Overton and Popley and the Hook team.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) comprises all procedures that involve altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons and is recognised internationally as a violation of the human rights of girls and women. It is an extreme form of discrimination and reflects a deep- rooted inequality between sexes.
The practice violates women and girls’ rights to health, security and physical integrity and around the world Mothers’ Union members are educating and campaigning for an end to this practice.
Dianne is Mothers’ Union branch leader in St Mary’s Church, Diocese of Liverpool. She reinstated the branch 18 months ago after the original group which had run for over 100 years disbanded a few years earlier. The branch has very close links with their church and the local school and their theme is “Family – Church – School” as they strive for the three to be unified in their local area.
With this in mind, Sophia Jones, our Senior Communications Manager, and Rachael Anderson, Events and Digital Media Manager, recently led Communications workshops in Nairobi (Sophia) and for Canterbury Province (both).
