Mothers' Union

New Members always welcome - please see contact details on the back of the magazine or see one of us at church or indeed come along to one of our monthly activities.

Wednesday 1 September - "Quiet Day" at Oak Hill Theological College, Southgate - details at back of church

Wednesday 1 September: 10am Holy Communion in church

Monday September 13th, 8pm Holy Communion in church

Tuesday 14 September 11-12am Prayer Hour at St Paul's Cathedral

Wednesday 15th 2pm - Talk on the Local Ecumenical partnership by Seketa Crowley in the Parish Centre

Photographs from the recent Garden Party which raised £190.67p for the Wheels Appeal

read about MOSAIC

You don’t have to be married or indeed a Mother to come along to one of the Mother's Union meetings/holy communions! Everyone is welcome to join us and find out more about the Mothers' Union and it's good works, or speak to one of St Andrew's members at church or school. The Mother's Union is an International Christian mission organisation working through grassroots membership to support families and communities around the world.

Sharing a common vision of a world where God's love is shown through loving, respectful and flourishing relationships, members achieve this vision through:-

- promoting and supporting married life
- encouraging parents in their role to develop the faith of their child
- maintaining a worldwide fellowship of Christians united in prayer, worship and service
- promoting conditions in society favourable to stable family life and the protection of children
- helping those whose family life has met with adversity.

Mothers’ Union Parenting Programme
Being a parent can be described as the most important job you will ever do. It can also be quite a daunting and isolating task, especially with all the things that life in the 21st Century can bring. Promoting the importance of parenting and its impact on family life is a universal goal for Mothers’ Union members worldwide.

Research undertaken at the end of the '90s suggested that one of the key factors in determining how helpful parenting groups are for parents is the skill of the group facilitator. Mothers' Union found that whilst there were many resources available for group facilitators, there seemed to be little training to equip them. Armed with this research, the Parenting Programme was introduced.

Mothers’ Union Parenting Programme aims to equip individuals to develop their parenting skills, build relationships and contribute to the stability of family life in society. This mirrors the core values at the heart of the Mothers’ Union.

Mothers’ Union parenting groups provide an opportunity for grandparents, parents and carers alike to meet in a supportive environment. Through group formation and the establishment of trusting relationships, individuals explore common parenting issues through participatory learning.

For more information on the MU Parenting Programmes, please visit: http://www.themothersunion.org/parenting_programme_ukandireland.aspx

Relief Fund Calendar

__________________________________________________

CLICK FOR THE DIOCESE OF LONDON MU WEBSITE

find out about The Mothers' Union

The Mothers' Union Prayer

Loving Lord, we thank you for your love so freely given to us all.

We pray for families around the world.

Bless the work of the Mothers' Union as we seek to share your love through the encouragement, strengthening and support of marriage and family life.

Empowered by your Spirit, may we be united in prayer and worship, and in love and service reach out as your hands across the world.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

MU members at St Katharine's Centre and Capel Manor

Organ Restoration Appeal

A Mothers Union Project: Getting Away From It All

Summer outings, car packed with sandwiches and bottles of squash. A week of glorious family time, when the pressures of home melt away in what you always remember as glorious endless sunshine. Memories of times like these with families, however simple, are remembered as treasured moments all of our lives. More importantly they’ve helped shape our family life and strengthened our family relationships.

Every year Mothers’ Union helps many families who otherwise wouldn’t be able to have a holiday, to Get away from it all through the provision of days out or holiday weeks away.

Mothers’ Union volunteers offer children’s activities, ensuring the parents get a break, or an opportunity to meet up with other parents in informal sessions where they can share experiences and chat through their personal stories. Holidays are offered to families who are experiencing some kind of distressing situation, and for the vast majority of those who go on the holiday, it can be their very first holiday – ever. Some may need time away from the day-to-day stresses of everyday life in order to spend some special time together as a family, to recover and gain the strength to go on. Other families may be coming to terms with a recent bereavement, or children may be coming to terms with the impact that their parents’ recent divorce has had on them. Some might be escaping from domestic violence and just need some time to recover and begin planning for the future in a safe place.

A grandmother on holiday with the three grandchildren she cares for shared how, for her, the best thing about the holiday they had was seeing her grandchildren happy. She explains that the holiday enables her grandchildren to meet other children their own age who may also have been though tough family times. As they play and make friends, this “makes them feel normal” instead of often feeling different from other children they meet at school, who haven’t experienced such difficulties.

None of these holidays would take place without the amazing dedication of a whole army of Mothers’ Union members around the UK & Ireland, who coordinate the organisation of AFIA in their diocese. On average, around 2,800 people a year have a holiday organised by Mothers’ Union, which would include around 1,500 children.

Anyone who is interested in applying for a Mothers’ Union Away From It All Holiday is put in touch with the Mothers’ Union coordinator in their area. If Mothers’ Union are able to help, the family would then be asked to complete an application form, and to suggest someone who knows them in a professional capacity (for example, their family doctor, a social worker, a member or sometimes a member of the clergy), who can support their application. Mothers’ Union can sometimes help with part or most of the cost of the holiday, depending on the personal circumstances of the family.

For further information email outreach@themothersunion.org

I hope you found this interesting and is just another example of the good work of the Mothers' Union. If you are interested in any of the MU projects you have read about this year in the magazines, then please do come along to one of our meetings, new members are very welcome.



Julie Van der Helstraete