What starts at the Sea of Galilee goes worldwide.
Christians of many traditions serving pilgrims together, so the world may believe.
THE VISION
One Step Closer – Hospitality Together envisions a blossoming culture of Christian oneness (John 17) where disciples of Jesus from diverse traditions walk closer together through hospitality, friendship, and collaborative service to those in need.
Around one table. In one hope.
Animated by Christ’s prayer at the Last Supper, “that they may all be one” (John 17:20–23), and born from the Magdala experience where friendships have begun replacing inherited prejudices, OSC-HT envisages Christians from diverse confessions coming closer together while serving needy people.
True oneness is the work of the Holy Spirit and unfolds gradually. Step by step, believers grow in Christ as they choose partnership over divisiveness, hospitality over hostility, and long-term friendship over inherited prejudice.
Toward 2033, OSC-HT hopes to help celebrate 2000 years of Redemption by fostering a blossoming culture of Christian oneness worldwide: churches collaborating in service, witnessing together to Christ’s love, and preparing future generations to become agents of reconciliation in a world burdened by division. OSC–HT envisions a long-term journey, step by step, not a short campaign. Centuries of division cannot be healed by one action.
FOUR STEPPING STONE
The path begins in Galilee.
Step on each stone to walk the path from acting on Jesus’ Oneness Prayer in Galilee to living oneness at home.
STONE 1 - JOHN 17 LANDMARK
More than a restaurant
Building together a living sign of John 17
Jesus’ prayer for oneness still calls us forward. Built together by Christians from diverse traditions, the OSC Landmark witnesses permanently to John 17:20–23 — a monument to Christ’s prayer and a landmark beckoning us onward, renewed, one step closer in Christ.
A Living Monument to Jesus’ Oneness Prayer (John 17)
At the Last Supper, Jesus prayed for all who would believe in him, “that they may all be one” (John 17:20–23). At Magdala, One Step Closer – Hospitality Together gives that prayer a visible and practical form.
Christians from diverse traditions are building this restaurant together.
That fact is the message.
Before the first meal is served, the restaurant already proclaims something simple and powerful: by God’s grace, disciples of Jesus, still marked by centuries of division, can move from inherited prejudice to friendship, from rivalry to partnership, and from separation to shared service.
A training ground for OSC-HT volunteers to grow closer together
The restaurant will speak silently to every volunteer who offers hospitality:
- Christians built this together.
- Christians can serve together.
- Christians can return home and continue working together.
Volunteers from different Christian traditions serving together learn and practice the spirit of oneness for which Jesus prayed.
An oasis of togetherness to experience Jesus’ Oneness Prayer through hospitality
At Magdala, the OSC Landmark invites guests to experience Jesus’ prayer for oneness through hospitality.
Taste and see that the Lord is good! A good meal, a beautiful Sea of Galilee setting, gracious company as we meet each other and share blessings.
- Gracious volunteers welcoming you, attentive to your needs. Diligent staff pouring out the Lord’s bounty.
- Pastors’ tables where the experiences of different Christian traditions and challenges enrich and strengthen each other.
- Lakeside dinners where One Step Closer churches mingle and share blessings they will take back to their communities.
- Spontaneous Magdala table encounters which stimulate us all in our walk with Jesus.
The restaurant welcomes the hungry, the thirsty, the tired, the pilgrim, the visitor, and all who carry burdens of brokenness. In this school of oneness, Christians learn, step by step, to serve together in response to Christ’s prayer: “That they may all be one.”
Our hope is that our guests leave with one conviction:
- We built together.
- We serve together.
- We are learning, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, to keep walking one step closer in Christ.
So, let’s take this spirit home!
STONE 2 - VOLUNTEERS
Volunteers serving side by side
A shared volunteer program where Christians from different faith communities welcome pilgrims together. Mutual respect, real cooperation — hospitality as a sign of the unity we still hope for.
An Invitation to Serve at Magdala
Since 2010, thousands of volunteers have blessed Magdala with a spirit of service. We now seek to extend this to our restaurant hospitality.
Our staff does great work, but hundreds of tired, thirsty, and hungry pilgrims deeply appreciate a personal welcome and touches of attention inspired by Jesus’ example.
We invite your Church to send volunteers regularly to serve pilgrims at Magdala for extended periods.
Learn more about our existing volunteer program at Magdala Volunteers.
Renewed in Body, Mind, and Soul
Imagine the impact on those who come to dine at Magdala, leaving refreshed in body and renewed in mind and soul.
Volunteers, their families, and home Churches will be enriched by the experiences, promoting new waves of volunteers.
One Step Closer, Across Traditions
Picture volunteers from different Christian faith communities serving Holy Land pilgrims together.
Despite our differences, we can provide hospitality together, impacting countless visitors, including those who are not Christians.
We aim to walk closer together, beyond prejudices and judgmental attitudes, heeding Jesus’ call, “Give them some food yourselves” (Matthew 14; Mark 6; Luke 9.)
Regardless of our Christian affiliations we can grow one step closer.
To date, around 3,000 volunteers from various Christian confessions have served in Magdala.
STONE 3 - ARTWORK
An iconic artwork of unity
The artwork becomes a teaching place for the next generation of pilgrims.
Magdala is blessed by inspiring art.
- Second Temple period mosaics, frescoes, sculpture, and architecture
- 21st century interpretations of Gospel texts in icons, paintings, mosaics, sculptures, architecture
Call to Artists
Expect a worldwide call to artists to submit proposals for the ambitious desire to see a major art piece presenting John 17:20–23 to the world.
STONE 4 - WORLDWIDE
Worldwide Resonance
From the shores of Galilee, OSC-HT invites churches, pastors, volunteers, pilgrims, and donors to carry this witness into their own communities: partnership over divisiveness, hospitality over hostility, and long-term friendship over inherited prejudice.
Hearts Stirred Worldwide
One Step Closer already stirs many hearts throughout the world.
Visitors and volunteers return to families and churches changed. Encounter, mutual appreciation, and teamwork replace prejudice.
Pastors are sharing pulpits in their locality. One group of four pastors rotated through each other’s churches — each one preaching on John 17. Imagine the impact of four pastors from different churches in one locality, all emphasizing our needed response to Jesus’ Last Supper prayer.
Pastors report raising this theme at regional pastors’ conferences. What is the impact when entire communities are praying with Jesus for our oneness as his disciples, across all the churches of a given locality?
Leaven Changes the World
Around the globe Christians from different churches in the same locality tackle together the ever new challenges facing the most needy.
Leaven from Galilee changes the world, one community at a time.
A COVENANT IN STONE
The Oneness Stone
At the entrance of the future restaurant at Magdala, one stone will carry the names of the Christian traditions taking part in this work — gathered not on separate monuments, but on a single shared stone.
It is a marker of friendship and shared purpose — a sign that Catholics, Protestants, and Eastern Christians can work side by side in concrete ways, each remaining faithful to their own tradition.
“That they may all be one.” — John 17:21
MAGDALA CROSSROADS
A culture of encounter
Magdala has been favored with superlatively-labeled archeological findings, gifted artists, and open-minded leadership. Standing around a 2,000-year-old synagogue in the area where Jesus traveled from synagogue to synagogue, Christians realize that here in Galilee — the fountainhead of that stream animating billions worldwide — they stand again side by side, where once no divisions fractured their blessed discipleship.
Without our intentional planning, Providence has surprised us with world-ranking artists from Reformation, Catholic, and Eastern churches who decorated Duc in Altum. A culture of encounter flourishes for everyone of faith or no faith. Interfaith prejudice subsides. Fresh acquaintances spark developing friendships. Each one builds with their neighbor on what they share in common.
Cherished Magdala vocabulary includes crossroads, culture of encounter, commonality. No wonder One Step Closer — Hospitality Together sprouted on this fertile terrain for our shared treasures of humanity.
ONE STEP CLOSER IN ACTION
Progress on the path
The work as it unfolds — restaurant, volunteers, artwork, and the encounters along the way.
I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one — as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. “I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me.
JOHN 17 : 20 - 23
MAGDALA CROSSROADS - MONTHLY JOURNAL
Reflection from Galilee
HOW TO TAKE A STEP
Three ways to walk with us
For Pilgrims
Plan a pilgrimage that includes serving alongside Christians from other traditions. Stay, encounter, and carry the leaven home.