Join us for an evening exploring what motherhood means in contemporary Britain + the premiere of Making a Mother, a new animation by Emily Downe.

Motherhood is one of society’s most essential and transformative experiences. The process of becoming a mother, as author Lucy Jones puts it in her book Matrescence, involves a far–reaching physiological, psychological, social and spiritual metamorphosis.

And yet the ways in which societies mark this moment – especially in an age of declining religiosity – feel inadequate. Women are navigating this seismic life transition, often behind closed doors and without the support they need. Mothers describe losing themselves, not having the words to communicate the change, and seeing idealised motherhood depicted everywhere yet feeling invisible in society’s eyes.

What policies, practices and rituals might help mothers feel seen and valued? How can we open up space for mothers to discuss the metamorphosis of matrescence without taboo? What can be recovered of ancient Christian rituals that might help in all of this?

Join Theos and Lucy Jones, author of Matrescence: On the Metamorphosis of Pregnancy, Childbirth for an illuminating and contemplative evening exploring what motherhood really means in contemporary Britain today.

The event includes the premiere of Making a Mother, a stunning new animation by Emily Downe, that reimagines ancient wisdom for contemporary motherhood. There will also be a panel conversation drawing on exclusive findings from Theos and Bible Society’s landmark study Motherhood: Inside Out, which uncovers what UK mothers really need from their communities, workplaces, society and faith communities.

The evening will also explore how the medieval practice of the “Churching of Women” – a blessing ceremony that once marked a mother’s re–entry into community life – might offer wisdom for today. Could sacred traditions and meaningful rituals help make visible what society too often ignores?

This is a rare space for mothers to move beyond the practical and political to explore motherhood’s deeper dimensions: questions of meaning, identity, spirituality and transformation that new motherhood provokes but rarely gets airtime.

Mothers and mothers–to–be of all faiths and none are welcome, as well as anyone seeking honest conversation about this life–changing transition.

Where?

St Giles’ Church,
81 Camberwell Church St,
London,
SE5 8RB

When?

Wednesday, April 29 at 6:30PM BST

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