• What We Do
  • Contact Us
  • Help
  • Site Map
Mission Giving Legacy Fund Legacy Builder Planned Giving
United Methodist Women
  • Maps
    • Living Wage Map
    • Methane Map
    • Mission Maps
  • Members & Leaders
    • Mission Giving
    • 2021 Reading Program
    • 2021-2024 Handbook
    • Worship Services
      • Call to Prayer Grants
      • Installations
        • Women Weaving One World (Alternate)
      • Memorial Services
      • Pledge Services
      • UMW Sunday
      • World Thank Offering
    • Action
      • Alerts
      • Influence Legislators
      • Contact Congress
      • Social Action Member Resources
      • Visit Congress
    • Staff Liasons
    • Roles & Responsibilities
      • Communications
      • Conference
      • District
      • Education-Interpretation
      • Jurisdiction
      • Language Coordination
      • Local
      • membership-nurture-outreach
      • program-resources
      • programs-VP
      • social-action
      • Spiritual Growth Coordinator
    • Mission Resources
      • 5 Channels of Member Giving
      • Mission Giving Resources
      • Resources
      • Stories of Mission Giving
    • Membership Resources
      • 2020 Managing Anxiety: A Youth Study
      • Managing Our Emotions: A Children’s Study
      • Welcoming Toolkit
    • Logos & Templates
    • Videos, Photos & Infographics
    • response podcast
    • Faith Talks
  • News
    • More Media & Communications
    • Press Releases
    • Subscribe to e-news
    • All Articles
    • Logos, Templates & Brand Books
    • response: the magazine of women in mission
    • Action Alerts
  • Shop
    • E-store: umwmissionresources.org
    • Amazon Smile: Designate the New York, NY option
    • Global Goods Partners: Use code 'UMW'
  • What We Fund
    • International Work
      • Economic Development Initiative
        • Economic Development Grant Stories
      • Global Leaders
      • International Emergency
        • International Emergency Stories
      • Training for Transformation
        • Mozambique
        • Training for Transformation Stories
    • National Mission Institutions
      • National Mission Institutions Stories
    • Regional Missionaries
    • Grants
      • Theressa Hoover Award
    • Service & Advocacy
    • Mission Giving
      • Voices from the Field
      • Where the Money Goes
    • Finance
    • What We DON'T Fund

/Members & Leaders/Events/annual observances/MothersDay

Members & Leaders > Mother's Day

Mother's Day

United Methodist Women members have a legacy of answering God's call to help those in need. This call led us to make maternal and child health in our communities and around the world a priority. Another focus undergirding all our work is building peace. Our organization has worked in both areas for 150 years. In fact, those issues led Methodist women to inspire the observance we now call Mother's Day.

In the late 1860s, before Mother's Day was an official holiday in the U.S., Ann Jarvis started mother's clubs that served poor and sick mothers and their children. Later Mothers' Friendship Day was founded to build peace after the Civil War ended.
Watch The Founding Mothers of Mother's Day for more about the Methodist roots of this holiday.

In the 21st century, women play increasingly important roles in church, society and families; women who mother deserve to be honored. It's important to remember that not all women who mother have children, yet their mothering helps others just as much. A woman's worth should not be measured by whether or not she has children. Many women without children have been inspiring leaders, mentors and surrogate mothers to young people in ways that helped transform them into mature adults. There are women who have sought adoption and been mothers in ways that biological mothers could not. Women, especially United Methodist Women members, serve others with faith, hope and love in their homes, their communities and the world with their time and through Gifts to Mission every day.

While the intent of each second Sunday in May is joyful recognition, some women experience pain and remember losses on this occasion. Read A Day for All Who Mother  for a perspective on making Mother's Day more inclusive and how you can avoid unintended harm.

From here on out on Mother's Day, pause in gratitude for the treasured women in your life, including yourself. Celebrate all those who mothered you, those who support you now and those whom you nurture. May it be a day you commit to be more compassionate and ferocious in your love for others.

More on Mother's Day

  • Today We Celebrate Our Mothers (PDF)"Mother's Day"
  • The Campaign to End Family Detentionimmigration, "Mother's Day", "press release"
  • A Day for All Who Mother"Mother's Day", response, "seasonal devotions"
Legacy Fund

 

Blessings on Mother's Day

The Founding Mothers of Mother’s Day

Harriett Olson, CEO of United Methodist Women, and Donna Miller, archivist at Historic St. George's United Methodist Church, tell us more about the women behind Mother's Day.
Link opens in a new window. Read the transcript

 

A Day for All Who Mother

Women of all ages mother in ways that don't show up in a traditional nuclear family diagram.Mother's Day is a day to celebrate all women who mother. The author writes of "unconditional love, unstoppable love, faithful and ferocious love." Wherever it comes from and on whomever it is bestowed - it is worthy of celebrating!

Site Map ©2021 United Methodist Women
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Flickr
  • UMWOnline
Opens in a new windowTreasurers' Online Remittance Login