Well! What do you know?

The KAIROS programme is a challenge to fresh thinking about our churches and our parishes. As part of this I'd like to invite you to revise your impression of the Mothers' Union, the largest Christian charity in the world, with three million members in over 70 countries.

The MU has undergone a great transformation in recent years, and is no longer the same as most people's image of it. Many people still assume it consists of small local groups of elderly women who frown on divorcees and who meet to exchange recipes and gossip. In reality it is very different. It is now open to all baptised Christians, including single, separated and divorced women, and there are even 1,000 men members in this country. It also leads the way in social concern and in community service, in this country and abroad.

This means that the original name 'Mothers' Union' doesn't exactly reflect its membership, but it is hard to think of another name which would do. At least the name is a reminder of one of its main concerns, which is Christian marriage and family life. The modern MU is working hard to encourage and support all parents, including single parents, and to promote conditions in society favourable to stable family life and the protection of children.

So, what is the MU doing these days? A few examples, first from this country: It runs parenting programmes, and now has 300 facilitators trained to lead local parenting groups. It has volunteers in 48 hospitals, supporting the work of the Chaplains, and over 1,000 volunteers doing valuable work in 80 prisons. In most dioceses it runs 'Away from it all' schemes to provide much-needed holidays, both for young families and for senior citizens who wouldn't normally be able to afford a break. It is in regular consultation with the Government and Parliament on family issues, and has been a leading voice on debt cancellation for the Jubilee Campaign.œ1 Alongside all this is the considerable work being done by MU members in their own parishes, supporting the clergy, helping with Baptism preparation, Marriage preparation and counselling, and more humdrum tasks like church cleaning and serving refreshments.

And what about abroad? Again, a few examples: The MU has 300 workers around the world. It runs Literacy and Development programmes in Burundi, Malawi and Sudan, giving women a chance to earn to read and write, and so to obtain work and to teach their children.œ2 It runs sewing and tailoring projects in India. It works among families devastated by AIDS in many parts of Africa. It also has representative status at the United Nations, with the Commission for the Family. This year it is busy promoting the second United Nations International Year of the Family (the first was 10 years ago). In our own diocese the MU has organised two Family Fun Days, at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight on May 15th and at Fort Nelson on Portsdown Hill on September 18th.

MU literature is now among the best produced by any Christian organisation. The current quarterly magazine, 'Home and Family', has articles on how parents cope with the death of a child, on the MU in Tanzania (where there are 500,000 members!), on Early Learning Initiatives, on children receiving Holy Communion, on Fostering, and on adult children who return to live at home after University. There are leaflets available on many subjects, like 'How to survive with your children in worship', and there are excellent Prayer Cards, praying for parents, for grandparents, and for the overseas work going on.

Finally, the MU is firmly based on prayer and worship. A recent 'Quiet Day' in Holy Week attracted over 50 MU members from the parishes on the Island. Members are linked around the world between local branches, in mutual prayer and support; many branches have a regular corporate Communion in their parish church, and there is a monthly diocesan Communion at 12.noon on the third Wednesday of every month, attended by an increasing number of members. Altogether the 21st century MU is something we should be proud of, and something for which we should give thanks.

Bruce Carpenter
MU Diocesan Chaplain

 The National Missing Persons Helpline, which now receives 2,000 calls a day, started out as an MU project, called 'Message Home'.

 These programmes so impressed the Comic Relief administrators that they awarded £780,000 over 5 years to support them, one of the largest grants ever made by the charity.