A 'Fairy Liquid' advert in a Bob the Builder Mag

Mothers’ Union are working on their commericalisation of childhood campaign (see below for more information) and will soon be producing a resource to help families understand and navigate the commercialisation of childhood. But they want the practical experiences of the impact advertising has on the children in your family, and how you handle them, so that they’re not just spouting theory, but offering practical, lived out ideas that work and will help stop others feeling overwhelmed by the impact of the commercial world!

So what are your

• top tips for dealing (in a practical way) with the influence of marketing and advertising on the children in your family; and/or
• Scenarios when you or the children in your family are particularly influenced by marketing or advertising?

Mothers’ Union are looking for ideas to be submitted by the end of July. If you use the ‘comment’ facility on this blog, all ideas will be passed to our Social Policy Unit at Mothers’ Union.

If you want some ideas about what other people have said before submitting your own, read the comments on the blog of one of our Mothers’ Union members here. But please remember, we want your ideas most of all.

Background:

Helen Goodman, MP, authored a Charter about commercialisation of childhood 3 years ago, but the campaign is ongoing. The points raised in this charter are familiar to all Mothers’ Union supporters who have used the Media Awareness material in the past, and the issues are as urgent as ever. For example, the need to provide support to parents, carers and teachers and accessible resources to help them understand the impact of commercialisation on children and suggest ways they can offset it, for example ways of helping children understand the media (Item 1.5 in the Charter).

To view a summary of the recommendations and a call to sign up to them read http://www.compassonline.org.uk/campaigns/campaign.asp?n=683

Join Mothers’ Union members in the Diocese of Winchester to hear news from Southern Sudan.

One Mothers’ Union member from the Diocese of Winchester has spent several years living and working among the people of Southern Sudan, and she has offered to share her experiences with everyone who is interested in the region and it’s people.

Tales of South Sudan
Crosfield Hall, Romsey 6.00-9.00pm (refreshments from 5.30pm)
Thursday 15th July 2010
Speaker: Poppy Spens

In the last four years Poppy and her husband have set up 2 health centres, a mobile clinic, and this year a children’s’ ward and eye clinic opens. The picture shown here was taken by Poppy and shows Mothers’ Union members who will feature in her slide show.

Mothers’ Union in the Diocese of Winchester is linked in prayer with Mothers’ Union members in the Southern Sudanese Diocese of Kajo-Keji.

The evening will also feature other news about Mothers’ Union work locally and around the globe, including this years Family Holiday which local members and supporters will be running for a week in August on the Isle of Wight.

Directions for Crosfield Hall, Romsey are downloadable here: Crosfield Hall

Wolvesey in Winchester

If you feel you need to take time-out from your normal schedule to sit with God and receive from him, here’s a really good chance for you to do just that.

You would be most welcome to come and share in the next Mothers’ Union Quiet Day to be held at Wolvesey in Winchester on Wednesday 21st July 2010. The day will be led by Revd Norman Boakes, a member of the Discipleship and Ministry Department of the Diocese of Winchester and a supporter of Mothers’ Union. Revd Boakes will be leading the day using the theme “Relationship not Rules”.

The Quiet Day will start at 10am and finish at 3.30pm and will include a Eucharist. Drinks are provided but you are asked to bring your own sandwich lunch. There are a short flight of stairs to the Chapel where the main sessions of the day will be led.

If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity, please download our QuietDay_July10_BookingForm and return it to us with a £3.00 donation/person. Places are limited to 50 so please book soon to avoid disappointment. A map is available here: Winchester – Wolvesey

Mothers' Union goat project to improve nutrition in Masasi Diocese (2006)

We have received  information about the Diocese of Masasi in Tanzania saying that it has been divided into two, with a new Diocese of Newala being formed in September 2009.

The Diocese of Masasi remains one of the Diocese with which we are linked as prayer partners through the Mothers’ Union Wave of Prayer, and as yet we do not know how this news affects that partnership, or the geographic areas affected. We will share more news relating to our specifically Mothers’ Union link when we have it, but in the meantime you may be interested in looking at the website of the Friends of Masasi.

In the meantime it would be a good idea to pray for both Diocese: The Diocese of Newala with it’s new Bishop Rt Revd Oscar Mnung’a and the remaining Diocese of Masasi, Rt Revd Patrick Mwachiko especially as he has been forced to move out of the Bishop’s house at Mtandi because his damaged home is beyond repair.

This month’s prayer letter from Jade the Community Chaplain talks about the things that men who have just been released want and need, and the welcome that churches can provide to those who have come to faith.

Jade talks honestly about the idea of a drop-in centre in Southampton for released prisoners not having been as successful as hoped, and explains briefly why she thinks this is:

One of the things I have found is that the men I meet upon release do not want to meet up with ex-offenders because they are worried about being tempted to commit crimes again. But they are happy to have coffee with me and meet on a one-to-one. So this is what I continue to do each week spending a full day in and around Southampton and Portsmouth meeting up individually with men who have served time at HMP Winchester. This consists of coffee… and listening to the men talk about how the week has been, the highs and lows. We have a prayer and then arrange to meet again in a fortnight and keep in contact via texts and phone calls. Through meeting with the men I believe that they are encouraged to keep walking with Jesus and stay away from the temptation of crime.

Jade has also been encouraged by those Mothers’ Union groups that have hosted her as a speaker, and the way that those who came wanted to know how their churches can support men who go along to church. She says:

I always say to churches treat visitors with love and respect and no matter what their background make them feel welcome. Not all men will identify themselves as men who have served time in prison, but that means that each person is treated with the Christian love that God tells us to treat everyone to we meet.

At least two Mothers’ Union members from the Diocese of Winchester hope to attend the next Presentation Day on the SORI course that Jade runs, which starts on Monday 17th May. You can find out more here about this Restorative Justice scheme – please pray for this important work.

Please also continue to pray for

• all the men who have served time at HMP Winchester and are now trying to settle back into the community;
• the Chaplaincy team and all those involved in selecting a new chaplain to head the team.

If you think you could become part of the Mothers’ Union ministry at HMP Winchester which happens on the first Sunday of each month among those men awaiting release, please contact us via the link on the bottom right of your screen. For insurance reasons you will need to be (or become) a Mothers’ Union member.

When do you pray?

Some people pray occasionally, some in emergencies, some daily, some frequently each day. Everyone is different, but some patterns of prayer bind groups of people together.

Mothers’ Union supporters have a pattern of prayer which makes them stop whatever work or meetings they may be undertaking together at mid-day, and they then prayerfully reflect on their work, on their part in a worldwide organisation, on a particular group of members around the world (using something called the Mothers’ Union ‘Wave of Prayer’) and on the needs of those they know.

Mothers’ Union supporters who want to share in prayer over the next couple of months, might like to use the following downloadable notes to give them a little guidance and direction. You are welcome to share with us by using them as well.

MUMiddayPrayers-May2010

MUMiddayPrayers-June2010

Well the sun has finally come out, even if we’re still a little chill and so we’re looking ahead to summer, when Mothers’ Union are running their Wheels Appeal – raising vital transport funds for Mothers’ Union aid and development work around the world (like the Family Life Programme, and our Literacy and Development Programme).

We’re encouraging supporters to bake and sell cakes for brakes – flans for vans – biscuits for toolkits….anything you like really!

To join in the fun, contact Mary Sumner House for posters for your cake stall or strawberry tea (or any other yummy event!), and they also have fliers to get your whole branch, youth group, class or office involved and excited! Once you’ve got something arranged – tell us what it is, and we’ll tell the world!

Downloadable A5 colour poster: WheelsAppeal2010_A5flyer

SORI stands for’ Supporting Offenders through Restoration Inside’ and is run in HMP Winchester  where it seeks to help offenders understand the impact of their crimes. Jade, the Church Army Community Chaplain at HMP Winchester runs the scheme and recently wrote the following report as part of her prayer letter:

We have just completed our 11th SORI programme. We had nine men attend and it was a rather challenging week. It is the first time we have run a group where the majority of men are in for drug dealing. This is one of the crimes where it can be hard for the offender to see his victims – in his eyes he thinks he is just supplying drugs to drug users. During the week we were able to encourage them to see the wider picture and it was a time of growth for both the men and for the tutors.

On the Thursday afternoon the men were able to express their feelings through letters they had written to their victims and also to their own families.

We have now seen 108 men go through the SORI programme. I currently have 5 men in the community who have been through the course. I often get text messages from them telling me that they have been tempted to re-offend and then they remember what they did on the SORI programme and how they don’t want to make any more victims, and so they walk away from certain situations.

This is such an encouragement to me and I praise God for the opportunity to continue with the SORI Programme and to see men’s lives changed.

Jade is speaking at St Peter’s Church Yateley on Tuesday 27th April at 7.30pm – everyone is welcome.

News from the staff at Mothers’ Union head office (Mary Sumner House) is that the Mothers’ Union family has now expanded to more than 80 countries: there are now Mothers’ Union members living out our aims and values in the Republic of Congo (otherwise known as Congo-Brazzaville or Little Congo) and Namibia.

One of Mothers’ Union activities is in the area of social policy, specifically as it relates to family life. The European Commission has asked a consortium of non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) and universities to come up with recommendations for future research on family policy to be funded by them. As part of this exercise the World Movement of Mothers is conducting an online survey of European mothers to ask for their views and experiences. The results of this will be very helpful for future policy work within Mothers’ Union and other organisations campaigning for families. The questionnaire takes about 20 minutes to complete and can be found here.

The latest Social Policy update from Mothers’ Union is downloadable here: Faith_Policy_Watch_April2010 with news of the 54th UN Commission on the Status of Women, information regarding the UK elections, and a recent report on the sexualisation of children.

Today’s formal announcement that the UK General Election will be held on 6th May 2010 makes it necessary for everyone to reflect on what issues we feel are important.  If politicians are to represent us effectively they need to know what we think, and therefore we need to keep ourselves informed as to what they are saying and doing, and then tell them our reactions are to what we hear and see.

“Politics is the art of living together in community and that is precisely what the Bible is about” says the Mothers’ Union guide to the General Election: “New Vision – New Future”

The 17-page document outlines the policies of the political parties that relate to the Mothers’ Union aims and objectives on marriage and relationships, family life, work/life balance, commercialisation of childhood, gender equality and international development. It also

• urges us to support the Sanctuary Pledge Campaign which calls for the eradication of child detention in the UK – Mothers’ Union is an official partner of this campaign but it needs our individual support as well;
• information on how to make sure we are registered as a voter;
• information about how to get involved in hustings and organise discussion groups;
• biblical references about areas of concern that will help us pray and study as we decide how to caste our vote;
• prayers and a General Election Litany.

Effective prayer should be informed prayer.
Effective voting should be informed voting.
The choice is ours but the example is Christ’s.

This weekend sees the opening of the North Hampshire Child Contact Centre in Hook. It will be opening on the first and third Saturday’s of March to its first clients.

The North Hampshire Child Contact Centre has been initiated by, and the management committee is made up of, members from the North Hampshire Downs Mothers’ Union. They live in the villages just outside Basingstoke and the Child Contact Centre is being held at Hook near M3 J5 and the mainline train between Basingstoke and Fleet. Both Basingstoke and Fleet have child contact centres with waiting lists.

The volunteers to support the project have come from the village church congregations and from local school connections. This has enabled outreach by Mothers’ Union members to other supporters, and from the whole community (led by the Mothers’ Union) to the communities across the area.

The Child Contact Centre’s sole purpose is to enable parents, and sometimes grandparents, to rebuild relationships with children residing with estranged former partners. Contact is usually ordered by the courts. Those who have volunteered to help with sessions have been specially trained to facilitate resident parents who are reluctant about letting estranged partners have access to their children, and also care for children who may be very torn over which parent to please.

The North Hampshire Child Contact Centre would welcome your prayers for its volunteers and clients as it starts providing this vital and much needed service to the local community.

More information about how the project has been set up will be available on this website soon, and in the summer edition of our Diocesan Newsletter ‘Archway’.

It has been a while since we updated the prayer requests for HMP Winchester, its chaplaincy staff and been able to share the news of Jade, their Community Chaplain. This is purely down to the error and overloaded life of the webmistress – HMP Winchester still need our prayers!

In her prayer letter this month Jade shares news of talks she’s been able to give to Year11 pupils in a Winchester school:

I was very encouraged by the questions that the young people asked me, to do with the prison and also the rehabilitation of ex-offenders…The second time I took a set of prison clothes and all the things that the men get given on arrival. I found that having some real life prison property with me enabled the young people to interact a bit more.

Jade also talks about the 6-week trial of an ex-offenders drop in, currently being run from the Weston Healthcare Centre in Southampton. They may then try out another area in which they know ex-offenders are living, as they seek to discern which is the best venue.

Among all this, and her continued commitments to prisoners inside, Jade continues to be able to support men who have been released, some of whom are attending churches. Currently this sees her weekly in Portsmouth supporting a group there who need her time one-to-one to help them deal with personal issues as she seeks to help them avoid the temptations of returning to a life of crime.

This month Jade is particularly asking our prayers for:

• the next SORI programme (a week-long restorative justice course Supporting Offenders through Restoration Inside) will start on 21st March with the presentation afternoon on Thursday 25th March in front of invited guests;
• the whole chaplaincy team as the senior chaplain moves towards retirement in June;
• the drop-in centre at Weston and the volunteers who are making themselves available to be their for ex-offenders each week;
• men back in the community trying to live crime free lives;
• that God will continue to bless the ministry and all those men who have made a commitment to God in the past, or who will in the future.

If you are interested in knowing more about Jade’s ministry as a Community Prison Chaplain through the Church Army/Fresh Expression, please “Contact Us” through the link bottom right of this screen and we will pass your message on.

The Christian Calendar is now moving into Lent as we mark Ash Wednesday on 16th February 2010. Christian tradition encourages us to examine ourselves honestly, acknowledge our shortcomings, and seek reconciliation with God and with each other where we have compromised our relationships. Mothers’ Union has produced some material for Lent:

Lent-Easter-Meditations2010

As part of this years Mothers’ Union theme “Relationships not Rules” there is also the following prompt to our Lenten thoughts and helps us to turn them to actions: RnotR2010-LentColourChart

Many Mothers’ Union groups like to mark 25th March (known either as “Lady Day” or the “Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary”) with a special service.

At the annunciation, Mary made a free choice to be the bearer of a child who would bring freedom to the entire world. Traditionally, the church has characterised Mary as silent and passive, but in fact, she is a major spokesperson for those who are oppressed. In the Magnificat, Mary tells us that justice is at the heart of the Christian message. She rejoices because of the freedom God offers in lifting the humble high.

This theme was reflected in the Lady Day service written in 2007 which can still be used by groups as the theme reflects the work of Mothers’ Union members as they seek to bring forward justice for families through prayer, projects, and speak out where government policies affect marriage and family life. You can download it here: Lady_Day_Service_2007

Mothering Sunday 2010 is on Sunday 14th March, and once again Mothers’ Union are running their ethical gift campaign to enable people to remember the much loved Mothers and raise funds for much needed project work across the world. If you are reading this before Tuesday 9th March 2010, and haven’t yet taken part, you still have time to do so!

Mothers’ Union – like any charity – has seen income levels drop alarmingly as investments take a tumble. Yet working at the grassroots, actually serving communities where we live – in 78 countries of the world – means that we see at first hand when people need help. We know that if you could see what our members see – in some of the most already impoverished communities of the world – you would not be able to walk by on the other side.