Churches Together in Cornwall held a webinar on 16 Feb 2022 exploring the potential of Receptive Ecumenism as we seek to work more closely together to support Christian mission across Cornwall. It included a presentation by Doral Hayes, Ecumenical Facilitator for Churches Together in Hertfordshire and Executive Development Officer for the Association of Interchurch Families, followed by a lively discussion on Zoom.
Doral’s presentation was recorded and is available here for other groups who may wish to use it in local meetings, along with her slides.
View the recording:
Recommended reading
- Enriched by the Other: a spiritual guide to receptive ecumenism by Callan Slipper, Grove Books 139, ISBN 0262-799X. Priced: £3.95
- For the Good of the Church Unity, Theology and Women by Gabrielle Thomas – Paperback / softback – 9780334060604 (hymnsam.co.uk)
- Embracing the Other – A course from Churches Together in England
Find more resources at:
Receptive ecumenism – Churches Together in England (cte.org.uk)
What is Receptive Ecumenism?
Churches Together in England describes this approach to dialogue as follows:
‘Receptive Ecumenism is both a way of thinking and a process that enables unity to be built by receiving gifts from others. It challenges us to not think of what others might benefit from receiving from us, but instead invites us to recognise our needs and to put ourselves in the place of being a recipient.’
Receptive ecumenism is essentially very simple. Instead of asking what other Church traditions need to learn from us, we ask what our tradition needs to learn from them – what we can receive which is of God.
If each of our church traditions were to ask this question and act upon it, the hope is that we would draw closer together as family in Christ, while also deepening our own respective identities.
Receptive ecumenism therefore has the potential to transform how we listen and relate as churches – learning from each other and recognising that we all have gifts to share.
Kathy Pope
About our speaker
Doral Hayes is the Ecumenical Facilitator for Churches Together in Hertfordshire and Executive Development Officer for the Association of Interchurch Families. A member of the English and Welsh Anglican Roman Catholic Committee as well as the CTBI Writers Group for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Doral is also a Licenced Lay Minister and Associate Lay Chair for the Wycombe Deanery in the Oxford Diocese of the Church of England. After being elected as a Trustee in 2019 for Churches Together in England, Doral supports CTE’s work with local and intermediate ecumenism as well as sitting on the Racial Justice Working Group. Doral holds a MA in Contemporary Christian Theology and is currently undertaking a Doctorate in Practical Theology at Roehampton University, she is married to Declan, a musician, and has two children Amelia and Dylan.
