I've just been reading Altiero Spinelli's "The Ventotene Manifesto." He's a maximalist who believed that we should move towards a federal Europe (a 'super-state'). I often come across little pearls while reading political theory which relate a little to this journey of planting faith communities.

In the final paragraph of chapter three he states:
"The time has now come to get rid of these old cumbersome burdens and to be ready for whatever turns up, usually so different from what was expected, to get rid of the inept among the old and create new energies among the young."

He also talks about the need for leaders in times of revolution. Referring to democrats he states "they are suitable leaders only in times of ordinary administration" but that "During revolutionary times, when institutions are not simply to be administered but created, democratic procedures fail miserably." However he's not advocating some form of despotism which is why it made me think of the kind of paradigm we're in. How to be the kind of leader (to borrow from Todd) who can genuinely admit "I'm glad it's me sat here in this prison cell and not you"?

Regarding the identification of leaders, Spinelli states: "it must pick out and recruit into the organization only those who have identified and accepted the European revolution [instead read Kingdom of God] as the main goal in their lives..." Ok, maybe the last one was a little tenuous, but it got me thinking a little...