Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- List of Illustrations
- Foreword by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Jane Williams
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I 1876–1909
- Part II 1910–1944
- 5 Identity and Spirituality
- 6 Marriage and Family Life
- 7 Membership and Worldwide Work
- Part III 1945–1974
- Part IV 1975–2008
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Text of early membership cards
- Appendix 2 Development of the Mothers' Union prayer
- Appendix 3 Midday prayers (original)
- Appendix 4 Development of the objects
- Appendix 5 Biographical notes on central and worldwide presidents
- Bibliography
- Index
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
7 - Membership and Worldwide Work
from Part II - 1910–1944
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 April 2017
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- List of Illustrations
- Foreword by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Jane Williams
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- Part I 1876–1909
- Part II 1910–1944
- 5 Identity and Spirituality
- 6 Marriage and Family Life
- 7 Membership and Worldwide Work
- Part III 1945–1974
- Part IV 1975–2008
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Text of early membership cards
- Appendix 2 Development of the Mothers' Union prayer
- Appendix 3 Midday prayers (original)
- Appendix 4 Development of the objects
- Appendix 5 Biographical notes on central and worldwide presidents
- Bibliography
- Index
- Miscellaneous Endmatter
Summary
Between 1910 and 1940 the MU experienced an eight-fold increase in the number of overseas members. Overseas membership stood at just under 80,000 in 1940 and represented around 12 per cent of the total membership. Formerly expansion overseas had been largely driven by the enthusiasm of expatriates in British colonies to secure the benefits of the MU for themselves while they were so far away from home. Now the combined drive of missionary-minded women and the imperial vision of the Central MU worked together to create and nurture an indigenous overseas membership. The shift is most clearly illustrated by the fact that in 1910 the MU's overseas heartlands were the white dominions and India. By 1940, however, Africa was the continent with the largest membership.
The consequence was that the MU now faced new opportunities and challenges to its identity and purpose. It had to find ways to nurture the common spiritual and emotional ties of women which fuelled its mission while at the same time constructing administrative and representational structures which would grow and serve its membership. The desire for corporate unity led to the creation of a strong central bureaucracy as well as the devolution of power overseas on occasion. As Kevin Ward helpfully points out in A History of Global Anglicanism, local agency and creativity in respect of the overseas Anglican Church did not start after the colonial era. The desire for autonomy from the Mother Church was not simply a result of political independence and the MU in this period makes this evident. For example dominion councils were formed due to a growing sense of regional identity in the white dominions of Australia, Canada and New Zealand. While in other parts of the world the Central MU was prepared to modify its understanding of ‘upholding the sanctity of marriage’ in order to serve the missiological goals identified by local church hierarchy.
Unfortunately devolution and some variation in membership rules did not challenge a colonialist mentality with its racial and cultural hierarchies. If anything the latter was strengthened in this period as the MU sought to promote a universalist understanding of the vocation of womanhood based on monogamous marriage, pre-marital chastity and maternal responsibility within the nuclear family as a model of discipleship for indigenous women, who were often new to the faith.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A History of the Mothers' UnionWomen, Anglicanism and Globalisation, 1876–2008, pp. 140 - 158Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2009