During the week I was reading a blog from MIT which I thought I'd share. Called How to start a revolution it demonstrates mathematically the ability of a small amount of people to influence a larger group.

One way to model leadership (or flocking, as ornithologists call it) is to create a computer-based swarm of individuals who follow the average movement of those around them. When you introduce a small number of leaders who all move in a certain direction--to the right, say--the swarm tends to follow the leaders.

While the rest of the article is interesting in itself and well worth reading I could not shake Jesus' illustration of the yeast leavening bread.

To my mind this works on two levels.

Firstly, as a church leader we have the ability to influence the direction and thinking of our congregations towards holiness and the Kingdom of God but our task is so much easier when we identify those natural leaders within our congregations and pastor them directly, bringing them on board with the vision and more importantly the mission of the church.

I have seen churches that ignore (natural) leaders within their congregation and they do so at their peril. While they may be a troublemaker from your point of view, perhaps God is providing you with an opportunity to influence a large group of people through one person.

Secondly, I think about the church as ambassadors for the Kingdom of God and how we may influence the world. Jesus called us yeast, something that is massaged into the greater whole to lift it all up and help it to reach it's potential. Each and every Christian, each of those people in your congregation are one of these leaders that has the potential to shape opinion and direction in the worlds affairs.

I dream of a church that does not lobby politicians to legislate morality but a church that influences their neighbors towards righteousness.