The essential principle behind Receptive Ecumenism is that the primary ecumenical responsibility is to ask not "What do the other traditions first need to learn from us?" but "What do we need to learn from them?" The assumption is that if all were asking this question seriously and acting upon it then all would be moving in ways that would both deepen our authentic respective identities and draw us into a more intimate relationship.
The diagnostic task of Receptive Ecumenism is undergirded by several methodological principles:
Receptive Ecumenism has given birth to six major projects, incorporating four international conferences, with a fifth conference planned for 2022: