Metamorphosis

Metamorphosis has been described as “Exciting and Inspirational”,  “Challenging”, “Confidence Boosting” ,“Hopeful”, “Unexpected as to where God will take us” ,“A Treasure Trove” and “Expanding thoughts and actions”.

Metamorphosis equips people with the inspiration, confidence and skills to work for transformation in their local churches and communities across the UK and Ireland. It originates from over 15 years of experience across our Mothers’ Union movement in bringing churches and communities together to work for transformation, and it has been contextualised for use in the UK and Ireland.

It starts with getting together a group of people who want to work for change and inviting them to be part of our Metamorphosis online learning course, or as a small group, to work through our six-session Bitesize resource. You can find the booklet here to purchase.

Prayer and Bible Study that stimulate all our senses are at the heart of Metamorphosis, and our materials include interactive learning games and exercises, discussion questions, easy to use tools to help us to understand and engage with others, and case studies. Participating in Metamorphosis is guaranteed to change you and those around you. Read about how Portsmouth Diocese has been using Metamorphosis or read the Connected article about Metamorphosis.

At a recent learning and sharing session, some of our participants reflected on the changes that had come about through Metamorphosis:

“I no longer say ‘no’ but I try and embrace all ideas. This has given our branch lots of opportunities to grow in numbers and to have an impact. We have started a story time in our church for toddlers. We are getting involved with and responding to requests from our local primary school and I’ve started coordinating our work with prisons in the diocese. This has grown as we give our time in the visitors centre and also encourage those in prison with cards and small gifts provided by the MU at Christmas and Easter” (Jenny, Rochester).

“I had the confidence from Metamorphosis to reach out in friendship to someone in my parish who was isolated and depressed. This woman is now volunteering in our church and has a sense of purpose” (Elsa, Southwark).

“I had a passion to serve my community but nothing I tried really worked before Metamorphosis. This gave us confidence to listen and try new things and our church is working with other organisations to host a night shelter” (Carole, Portsmouth)

“I have learnt to listen better – this requires grace and listening not just to the words but also the silences.” (Mary, Leeds) 

“ I realise that we don’t just have to do things as a church but that we have lots of resources to mobilise for change if we look outside the church rather than focus on the scarcity of what is in church” (Mark, Rochester).

If you are interested in joining our next eight module online Metamorphosis course, please contact development@mothersunion.org for more details. Metamorphosis Bitesize includes all you need to run a session in your branch or small group. However, if you would like to meet with others who are using bitesize, to share learning and to have a taste of what a session might be like, we are re-running our sessions on Zoom on the second Tuesday of every month at 2 p.m. Contact development@mothersunion.org for the Zoom link. Click here for the flyer.