Sunday October 9th

Just a thought, arising out of things spoken and heard today: never belittle or write off the people who do small things (or the churches, for that matter). There is no mighty river whose journey did not begin as a series of small streams and trickles; and a long journey is best begun with small steps. I think that within the Church (and this I'm sure this is true for many other spheres of human activity too) we can be all too easily seduced by the lure of the Big Project. Better I think to create a safe and trustful place in which there is space and incentive for small initiatives than to invest huge amounts of time and energy on the sort of organisational framework, brokering of agreements, setting aside of funds, that a Big Project needs.

I remember reading that while Small Science often produces better and more exciting results than Big Science - that is, people following their instincts in small ways, rather than organised into big projects and dancing to a tune called by others - when budgets are cut and savings made, it's generally Big Science that gets ring-fenced while Small Science gets chopped. Is that really true, I wonder? If it is, that could well be a measure of the sexiness and headline status of Big Science, together with its bureaucratic framework and backroom support staff (and of course it'll be bureaucrats rather than frontline scientists who analyse cost benefits and advise on budget cuts). And then again, whoever we are . . . we all feel so busy and important when we're holding or attending all those meetings, don't we?

But good management, good hierarchies - the real test of this is surely that people are challenged, encouraged and given space to do the small things well at the local level at which any organism or organisation properly flourishes. In other words, a good and effective organisation should be serving you, rather than you serving it. You're why it exists, it isn't the reason why you do. Don't belittle the small stuff - value it, learn from it, share the insights: here is where we're most real.