 |
|
|
Mothers Union in Blackburn Diocese |
History of the Mothers Union |
|
A Brief History of the Mothers' Union
|
|||
|
Throughout our 128 years of existence the Mothers’
Union has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and children
worldwide. It was started in the village of Old Alresford near Winchester
in 1876 by Mary Sumner, the wife of George Sumner, the Rector of the
parish. Her own experience of motherhood made her aware of how little
preparation and support women received for their vital role as mothers.
This led her to invite some 30 or 40 local mothers to discuss the
possibility of meeting regularly in order to help one another create a
nurturing home environment in which their children could develop both
physically and spiritually. Mary Sumner believed that many of society’s
problems could be solved if mothers were educated in the best ways of
child-rearing. Prayer and practical action were at the heart of this union
of mothers. Each member was given a card on which were printed simple
practical suggestions for child training and the Mothers' Union Prayer. |
 |
||
| Mary Sumner in 1915, with a portrait of George behind her. | |||
 |
The idea of bringing
together Christian women, from all backgrounds, who shared a common
concern about child-rearing proved to have a wide appeal. As a result of
Mary Sumner’s speech promoting the idea of a union of mothers to a mass
meeting of church women in Portsmouth in 1885, the Mothers' Union came
into existence first as a diocesan and then as a national organisation. By
the 1890s the Mothers’ Union had outgrown a single vicarage sitting room
to become an international body with branches springing up throughout the
British Empire. Today the Mothers’ Union is one of the most visible
fruits of the 70 million strong Anglican Communion.
Over the past 125 years the Mothers’ Union has had as its primary aim the promotion of a Christian understanding of marriage and family stability. Needless to say our methods of fulfilling this aim have evolved, developed and changed in the light of social changes. A new constitution passed in 1974 opened membership to all baptised women and men, regardless of marital status, who supported our Aims and Objects. Further constitutional changes have been necessary since the 1970s to streamline the organisation and to meet the requirements of the 1993 Charities Act. In 1995 a new constitution was approved by the Privy Council. |
||
| This lovely piece of social history from the Diocese of St Asaph outlines members promises including; 'To train the children in habits of temperance, and not to send them to the public house'. Read more.... | |||
 |
|||
| The Mothers’ Union concern for families has drawn us often into activities beyond parish or even national boundaries. We have frequently been on the cutting edge of social change in both Africa and Europe. For example, in the early twentieth century, before women were granted the vote, we worked to influence and shape parliamentary legislation on marriage, divorce and the selling of alcohol. By so doing we challenged the idea that women’s primary responsibility for the family meant that they should be excluded from public decision-making, especially when a decision could impact on marriage and the family. Another example of the Mothers’ Union’s concern for family life requiring it to venture on to contentious ground, was its condemnation of the apartheid laws in South Africa in the 1950s which were splitting up black families. | |||
| Some of the most significant gifts the Mothers' Union has given and continues to give women and the Church is the experience of female leadership, teaching and a deep spirituality for ordinary lay women. | |||
| Placing such an emphasis on the importance of nurturing women’s skills means that the Mothers’ Union was among the first Anglican organisations working overseas to replace its British workers with women indigenous to the area where they were working. Mothers' Union workers and leaders in developing countries represent a major voice among the tiny fraction of empowered women in Africa and Asia. | |||
|
Reproduced
from the Mothers' Union web-site
|
|||