Unity through Repentance: The Journey to Wittenberg 2017
Appendix 4
Wittenberg 2017 as One Pattern for Leadership of a Reconciliation Initiative
By George Miley & Thomas Cogdell
George Miley gave permission to adopt a paper he had written, called Development of a Work of God: Principles.* The Wittenberg 2017 initiative beautifully illustrates the pattern George outlined.
Our hope in publishing this paper as an appendix is to provide guidance for potential future reconciliation initiatives—with the understanding, of course, that each initiative is unique and will experience its own “surprises of the Spirit.”
* George’s paper is article 106 of a compilation by George, Hanna, and some friends entitled Ancient Wells: Foundations for Christian Worship, Theology and Formation. As of the writing of this book, Ancient Wells remains unpublished.
Introduction
George Miley has graciously granted permission to adapt his article “Development of a Work of God: Principles” from Ancient Wells for this paper. We will combine the principles that he outlines, with our experience in seeing the development of Wittenberg 2017. We hope that this proves useful to other reconciliation initiatives that God is and will be developing.
We have written this in a general way, so that it could serve the purposes of other initiatives. We do so with humility – not at all intending to communicate that this is the only way for such an initiative to develop. God is infinitely creative, and His works display a variety of methods and means.
Here is what we have seen God do in Wittenberg 2017:
God Initiates the Ministry of Reconciliation
God Chooses a Leader (or a couple)
God Draws Others into the Vision
God Creates an Intercessory Covering
God Forms a Mutually Submitted Leadership Team
God Faithfully Shepherds The Initiative Through Stages of Growth
God Calls Forth Specific, Meaningful Actions of Reconciliation
God Begins Other Works While Ending the Initiative
Notice that it is God who does the work! We just cooperate with Him, work alongside Him. The Father is “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9). Jesus is Christ the Reconciler (Col. 1:20,22; Eph. 2:14-18; Rom. 5:10). The Holy Spirit convicts, comforts, and unites (Eph. 4:3).
Your initiatives may not have all of these steps. Or they may not be in the same order. Don’t be legalistic or dogmatic about this. Don’t start a new denomination based on this paper! As Fr. Peter Hocken has said, the Holy Spirit is always coming up with new surprises …
1 – God Initiates the Ministry of Reconciliation
God actively initiates ministries of reconciliation – 2 Corinthians 5:18-20
True works of God are not initiated by men, but by God – Exodus 3:4-10
That which is of human origin will be an Ishmael – Genesis 17:17-18
It must go through deep purification and reorientation
Or else it will not be spiritually fruitful at best, damaging at worst
God often (always?) provides prophetic signs to confirm that it is He who is initiating the work – see for example the many dreams, visions, and angelic visitations at when Jesus’ life was initiated (Luke 1 & 2)
These prophetic signs are frequently not understood until after they have come to pass.
In this way, the fulfillment of these prophetic signs builds faith but does not remove the responsibility to live daily as an apprentice to Jesus.
2 – God Chooses a Leader
God’s initiating call comes to a person.
Persons who are apostolically gifted are designed by God to receive these types of callings, because they are naturally gifted to pioneer works of reconciliation
It is rare (and fraught with potential difficulties) when two or more persons are initiating co-leaders of a work of reconciliation
However, this was the case with Amy & Thomas for Wittenberg 2017, and their Catholic-Protestant marriage turned out to be a strength … however, a strong bond of unity in their marriage was required, and was tested by God in 2003-2005
The leader(s) will be personally invested in the specific area of reconciliation being addressed
Those bearing the pain of historical wounds seem natural candidates
For example, a black person in the US
However, often God surprises by choosing a person who can identify more with the cause of the historical wound … one of the important roles of such a person is identificational repentance
For example, a white person whose ancestors kept slaves
The leader(s) will have strengths.
Strengths common for apostolically gifted individuals are:
Faith that God has called them
Willingness to take risks
Ambition to break new ground
Skills to communicate vision effectively
Ability to enlist others to pursue the vision
The leader(s) will have flaws.
Weaknesses common for apostolically gifted individuals are
Pride
Presumption
Impatience
Anger
Lack of Compassion
“Lone wolf” and/or “It all depends on me” mentalities
Compulsive and/or impulsive behavior
The call will become for him or her a cross – 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
Aspects of embracing this cross can include:
Waiting for God’s timing
Submitting to Godly authority
Surrendering decision-making and other aspects of leadership to others with complementary gifts
Enduring insignificant beginnings and/or a perceived lack of external recognition or validation
3 – God Draws Others into the Vision
A multi-gifted team begins to gathers around the leader
God’s provision for the implementation of the calling – 1 Corinthians 12:14
See Step 5 for more details
The leader is united with leaders outside the work
God’s provision for the leader’s need for counsel and covering – Galatians 2:1-2
4 – God Creates an Intercessory Covering
We were alerted by the example of one highly significant, prophetic reconciliation initiative that started up with Godly leadership and a clearly stated vision.
They began to act on this vision.
There was no organized team of intercessors laboring to cover this initiative.
They began to experience significant spiritual attack. The health of leaders and their immediate families was threatened, even to the point of death.
They drew back and sought the Lord as to why they were open to attack.
They heard that there was no prayer covering.
God raised up leaders to coordinate intercessory prayer.
God raised up intercessors to join the team.
Today, this initiative is flourishing and remains one of the key reconciliation initiatives in the body of Christ.
It is not important to have a large team of intercessors.
It is important to have Godly, anointed leaders.
And it is important that those who are on the team are called, committed and mature (since sensitive information is often shared with them, that must be kept confidential).
5 – God Forms a Mutually Submitted Leadership Team
Responsibilities / Purpose of the Leadership Team
The responsibilities of this team are:
Hear God together
Protect the initiative, particularly the initiating leader(s)
Develop further leaders for this and future initiatives
Regarding #1, Hearing God together:
In the beginning especially, the "hearing God" role is expected to come through the founding / initiating leader(s)
But each "word" or "impression" or even "conviction" needs to be tested, confirmed, adjusted.
Here is a crucial function of the leadership team which the Holy Spirit forms around the initiating leader.
Over time, the entire team hears God more clearly together.
Regarding #2, Safeguarding the unity of the initiative is the guiding purpose of this leadership team through all of its activities.
The attack of the enemy against a reconciliation / unity initiative will primarily be against the unity of the leadership team.
This is why the leadership team should be concerned with guarding its own unity, more than with making strategic, logistical or organizational decisions – which are important, but secondarily so.
This is also why the formation of an intercessory covering is so important (see point #4 above).
The decision making model used is:
We move forward when all are in agreement.
When all are not in agreement, we wait. We do not press for agreement (this can be a temptation especially of the initiating leader). We go together to God, asking for His wisdom. We do not move forward, until all are in agreement to do so. This can take significant amount of time, which requires a significant amount of patience and trust in each other.
The leadership team is not a top-down, command-and-control structure.
That leadership style is appropriate for many works of God.
But for a work of reconciliation, the leadership team must live out reconciliation and unity. This requires mutual submission and mutual honor.
This type of mutually-submitted leadership structure is more difficult to forge, and can take significantly more time – because it requires relationships of deep trust.
Composition / Structure of the Leadership Team
Be careful about who is invited to serve on this team, especially in the early days of the initiative – when it is tempting to add anybody who shows any interest!
It can be painful to later “uninvited” someone who was not meant by God to serve in this role, but in a different role.
As the team begins to form, all members of the team must hear together regarding who else to invite.
Numbers aren’t important.
Agreement is (see above regarding mutual submission).
Complementary giftings should be represented in this team.
However, nobody should be invited only to “represent” a certain gifting or “fill a gap.”
The person is more important than the gifting.
You can trust God to provide the right mix of giftings, over time.
Especially critical are those giftings listed in Ephesians 4:
Prophetic giftings
God's order is for the prophetic to be affirmed, protected and released in submission with the apostolic. There is a special “foundation” of the apostolic and prophetic working together – Ephesians 2:20
The prophetic is to honor and submit to the apostolic; the apostolic is to honor and submit to the prophetic. Among other things, this develops Christ-like character, and the effective expression of the prophetic through testing of the word.
Pastoral giftings
Evangelistic giftings
The gift of teaching.
There should also be other apostolic giftings.
These play a crucial role of insight, wisdom and protection.
They must be mature enough to support, bless, and serve the initiating leader(s), not “re-initiating” or “counter-initiating.”
There must be strong ownership by the primary repenting group.
In Wittenberg 2017, the initiators were American and not Lutheran.
We sought confirmation from German Lutheran pastors that the initiative was God’s idea and not ours – including Hans Wiedenmann and Hans Scholz.
We had significant German Lutherans on the leadership team – first Friedrich Aschoff, and then Henning Dobers.
There should not be widely unequal representation across the gap that the initiative of reconciliation is addressing.
For example, if it addresses racial divides in the US, the team should not be heavily composed of either whites or minorities.
However, great care must be taken in choosing who is on the team. There cannot be a “quota” system where a person is added to the team simply because that person “fills a hole”.
Pray for representation by at least one Messianic Jew.
Reach out to inform & involve Messianic Jews, even if the topic of reconciliation does not “seem” to be relevant to them.
The divide between Jew & Gentile was the first division in the church.
Messianic Jews hold important keys to reconciliation between other groups in the body of Christ.
And every chance to honor the Messianic Jews as our older brothers, should be pursued.
6 – God Faithfully Shepherds The Initiative Through Stages of Growth
Insignificant beginnings
Hebrews 11:11-12
Waiting on God’s timing
Abraham did not wait for God’s timing, and the result was Ishmael
David did not seize opportunities to take the kingship from Saul
Jesus repeatedly demonstrated an awareness of when it wasn’t his time
Paul did not go through the open door of ministry, because Titus was not there – 2 Corinthians 2:12-13
Growth
Because there is life, there is growth.
At first it is largely unseen. It is happening in people – Galatians 1:15-17
This is one important purpose of waiting on God’s timing … only God knows when the inner life is sufficiently formed
As individuals mature, growth assumes visible forms – Acts 14:26-27
Weakness
As the work develops, weaknesses increasingly appear.
Leaders and people are limited – 2 Timothy 1:15; 4:9-13
Character has not yet matured into Christlikeness – Philippians 3:8, 10
The cross becomes increasingly incarnated in the initiative’s DNA.
Faith becomes the settled response – 2 Corinthians 11:23-30
Spiritual opposition
The more fruitful the work, the more evil will oppose.
Attacks from without – Acts 20:29
Attacks from within – Acts 20:30
Increasing fruit
In God’s ways and timing
The work remains vulnerable – fragile – 2 Timothy 4:14-18
That no flesh may glory – 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
7 – God Calls Forth Specific, Meaningful Actions of Reconciliation
Some important actions of reconciliation are:
Prayer
Research
Pilgrimage – go towards the pain
Honoring
Listening
Lament / Grieving
Repentance
Forgiveness
Restitution – making it right
Celebration
The leadership team (not just the leader!) must hear the Holy Spirit together regarding:
What action to take
When & where to take action
Who to involve (the right people are more important than a large number of participants)
8 – God Begins Other Works While Ending the Initiative
The initiative’s ending is as important as its beginning
The power of many initiatives has been diminished, because they didn’t end when God had finished His work.
Leaders naturally want to build on momentum. Organizations that have been constructed have inertia that can be difficult to stop.
But the key ingredient is God’s anointing. If that is lifted, the movement will get more and more difficult, until it (at best) simply peters out, or (at worst) self-destructs, damaging many people.
God only calls us to completeable tasks
John 17:4 – “I have completed the work you gave me to do”
A Godly ending of one initiative gives birth in the Spirit to numerous new initiatives
John 12:24 – “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
Leaders Following
As of the publication of Unity Through Repentance in 2022, George Miley is working on a new book about leadership. The working title of the book is Leaders Following: They left everything and followed Jesus.
The paper presented in this Appendix will be reworked into a chapter of this book.
George has recorded himself teaching through the first two chapters of the book. You can listen below.
The book will be published by Quellen, who also co-published Unity Through Repentance in Germany and Austria.