Mothers' Union is the largest international Christian organisation with over 4 million members in 83 countries across the world.
Within this worldwide organisation we are part of the Anglican Province of Canterbury and based in the South West of England above Bristol, bordered by Wales in the West and the Cotswold Hills to the East.
Led by our Diocesan President, Doreen McLellan for the triennial 2022-2024 we have 29 branches across 8 deaneries and about 650 members working towards the Mothers' Union vision to strengthen and preserve family life and marriage, by our Christian faith through practical action.
This practical action can be seen through the giving of self, in prayer, in voluntary work, and in helping those less fortunate than ourselves in whatever ways we can.
Following the links, please take the time to discover how we respond to our Mothers' Union vision of a world where God's love is shown through loving, respectful, and flourishing relationships.
Are you a Facebook user? If so, please join the Mothers' Union Diocese of Gloucester facebook page.(Search in Facebook groups for MOTHERS' UNION GLOUCESTER DIOCESE)
Every day, the prayers from our Prayer Diary are published, together with the Wave of Prayer. Also any items of interest to Mothers' Union members which appear on the Church of England social media sites.
The national Mothers' Union website is a source of information about the worldwide organisation, national projects, monthly prayers and resources for members.
http://www.mothersunion.orgMidday Prayers are live on their Facebook page at 12:00 noon daily.
https://www.facebook.com/MothersUnion
Doreen was formally commissioned as our Diocesan President at the Lady day service in 2022 in Gloucester cathedral , alongside the Trustees and Speakers. Revd. Liz Palin was also commisioned as our chaplain.
Dear Fellow Members
I hope that you are keeping well and that you coped with the extremely cold weather and the very wet weather. Philip and I went to Colesbourne Park at the end of january for one of the snowdrop weekends - although it was cold the sun shone and the numbers of snowdrops in bloom showed that spring was really on its way which is a boost at this time of year. By the time you read this we should be well into Spring.
Since I last wrote for Roundabout I have attended several more meetings for the South West cluster pilot that we are undertaking with staff from Mary Sumner House. The staff feel that this scheme will lead to more efficient management and we are working through the proposals but, as you can imagine, there are lots of questions which have to be considered and you will hear more of this over the coming months as we work through various aspects.
In the March issue of Roundabout you will see many of the wonderful things that branches are doing and the work they are involved in. There is also some information on the Communities of Interest for various subjects (you may think of these as Units, which is how they were previously known).
As Easter is early this year we will be well into Lent by the time this reaches you. Our daughter's birthday is in April so, in our house, we tend to measure how late or early Easter is by the relationship of the dates. She was born 10 days before Easter but this year her birthday is 10 days after. An early Easter always feels as though we have very little time from Christmas but we still have Lent in which to reflect and take stock and maybe follow a specific course of study. it is good to have time in which to lay down or take up new things in our lives.
I hope you all have a happy and blessed Easter.
With love and prayers,
Doreen