The overarching vision is the

​of a healed, mature, united body of Christ 
​(John 17:20-26)

What stands in the way
​of this vision?  ​

We propose that the primary obstacle is hostility (Eph. 2:14).  Hostility divides God’s children and dims the glory of the Church. Jesus presents murder, anger, and contempt as equally damaging expressions of hostility (Matthew 5:21-23).

​When seeking unity, it can be tempting to start with issues of theology, practice, culture, language, tradition, authority, and the like, which are undoubtedly important.  But the wounds in the body of Christ remain unhealed until we address the historical and present realities of our contempt, our anger, and even our murder of one another.  When hostility is removed, new possibilities arise for addressing substantive differences in language, theology, and practice. 

Is there any answer to hostility? ​

Thankfully, Jesus provides an answer to hostility!  The answer is reconciliation (Matthew 5:24-26, Eph. 2:15b-16).  We define reconciliation as: 

A series of actions that removes hostility from a relationship, repairs the damage it has caused, and restores the unity-in-diversity that God desires. 

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What are the goals of Wittenberg 2017? ​

Drawing from the definition of reconciliation,
we state the goals of Wittenberg 2017 as:
​

+ The removal of hostility between followers of Jesus 
+ The healing of damage caused by centuries of hostility 
​+ The deepening of reconciled diversity