MOTHER'S UNION AND ALL WOMEN DESK
The Mothers’ Union is a Christian women organization of the Anglican Communion.The Mothers’ Union of the Anglican Church of Kenya is affiliated to the Mothers’ Union Worldwide and operates under the guidance of the Archbishop and the Diocesan Bishops. The Mothers’ Union has over four million members (as at 2018) in 83 countries globally.
Mothers’ Union was founded by Mary Sumner in the year 1876 AD. She wanted to create an organization for women that brought together the rich and the poor, the talented and the unskilled, the educated and the illiterate, to build a network that would support Mothers’ of all kinds as they bring up their children in the Christian faith.
The Mothers’ Union was started in 1918 at All Saints’ Cathedral but only among the European Ladies. On 4 March 1956, the first African Mothers’ Union members were enrolled. At that time the whole country fell under the Diocese of Mombasa. This took place at Mwongoiya Church which is within the present Anglican Diocese of Mount Kenya South. Mrs. Gladys Beecher, wife to the first Bishop Leonard Beecher, was instrumental in beginning the Mothers’ Union among African ladies in Kenya. She invited Mrs. Fisher, the wife of the then Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Fisher, to speak to the Mothers Union-Europeans and Africans–who gathered at All Saints’ Cathedral Nairobi. The Archbishop and Mrs. Fisher visited Mwongoiya Church to encourage and strengthen those first Mothers’ Union members and to see the place where the Mothers’ Union started among the Africans.
The Mothers’ Union grew from strength to strength under the leadership of Mrs.; Gladys Beecher. She organized Kenyan and Tanzanian Mothers’ Union members to meet occasionally here in Kenya or in Tanzania. When the Archbishop and Mrs. Beecher retired and the Church of the Province of East Africa was divided into the Provinces of Kenya and Tanzania, Archbishop Olang’ became the first Archbishop of Anglican Church, the Church of Province of Kenya (CPK). Mrs. Eseri Olang’, his wife, became the leader of the Mothers’ Union movement in Kenya. Successively, the wives to ACK Bishops have automatically assumed the roles of leaders of the Mother’s union with those of the Bishops taking leadership at the Diocesan level.
I can do all things through him (Christ) who strengthens me
A Stable Family grounded in Christ
To promote programs that contributes to the holistic wellbeing of families
The Kenya Anglican men’s Association traces its roots from the Mother’s Union operations. Retired Archbishop Manasses Kuria was so impressed by the work of the Mothers’ Union that he felt it right to start what was formerly referred to as the Fathers’ Union. The union first started in the same parish where the first pioneer Mothers’ Union members had been enrolled, namely Mwongoiya in Anglican Diocese of Mount Kenya South. It has over the years grown and spread to all the ACK Dioceses across the Country, becoming part and parcel of the Church ministry....
he Mothers’ Union was started in 1918 at All Saints’ Cathedral but only among the European Ladies. On 4 March 1956, the first African Mothers’ Union members were enrolled. At that time the whole country fell under the Diocese of Mombasa. This took place at Mwongoiya Church which is within the present Anglican Diocese of Mount Kenya South. Mrs. Gladys Beecher, wife to the first Bishop Leonard Beecher, was instrumental in beginning the Mothers’ Union among African ladies in Kenya. She invited Mrs. Fisher, the wife of the then Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Fisher, to speak to the Mothers Union-Europeans and Africans–who gathered at All Saints’ Cathedral Nairobi.
Tn 1962, the then Bishop of (the former) Mt. Kenya Diocese, the late Obadiah Kariuki, had a vision for young people. He established the Anglican Youth Organization (AYO) with the main aim of bringing the young people back to the mainstream of the Church of Christ. In 1964, the bishop launched the Diocesan Anglican Youth Organization at the St. Paul’s Mother Church, Kabete and he commissioned a Youth Committee to carry on the extension work in the Diocese.