Although the rise of participation is new, organizers of the “new small” note that the house churches have tapped into the same organizational structure behind the success of the anti-slavery movement in England and the women’s suffrage movement in the United States. Organizationally speaking, all these movements look virtually identical. They’re based on small-circle organizing, have little to no authoritative control, and rely on the innovation of distributed social movements. It’s this same type of organizational structure that is the secret to the success of Wikipedia and craigslist.

They note the key to the success of these churches is threefold:
1. Shared values rather than on autocratic rule.
2. Peer circles, rather than as a large, rigid, top-down hierarchy.
3. Leading through inspiration rather than by formal authority, allowing, but not forcing, others to follow them.

Traditionally, elections are about political machines, huge rallies, and media spending. While it would be naive to assume that these won’t have an effect on the 2008 election, the defining element of this cycle is the reemergence of small-circle strategies.