07 Sep Interchurch Families – Beacons of Receptive Ecumenism

An invitation to participate in the Association of Inter-church Families (AIF) weekend conference  by joining all the main events via Zoom.

Receptive Ecumenism is sometimes defined as ‘… both a way of thinking and a process that enables unity to be built by receiving gifts from others.  It challenges us to think not of what others might benefit from receiving from us, but to recognise our needs and to put ourselves in the place of being a recipient.’   Put simply, our church traditions should not be asking themselves “What do they need to learn from us?” but rather, “What do we need to learn from them?”.  The hope is that if all our church traditions were to ask themselves this question and act upon it, we might all draw closer together in Christ’s family, while also deepening our own identity.

To married couples this sounds very familiar, for it is in the nature of marriage that couples should aim to learn from each other to help them grow together.  For inter-church couples, learning about each other’s denomination helps us to develop a local sacramental practice of domestic church that is part of that growing together.  During this two-day event we will explore how the experience and practice of inter-church families might offer our churches a lived example of Receptive Ecumenism in action.

For more details see this flyer