In February, 1999 I participated in a "Seminar on Missionary Awareness" at the Spiritan Missionary Seminary outside of Arusha, Tanzania.  One speaker explained how the pope is the main person responsible for mission in the universal church, the bishop the main person responsible for mission in the diocese, the pastor the main person responsible for mission in the parish and the chairperson the main person responsible for mission in the Small Christian Community (SCC).  At this point I disagreed saying that this pyramid or vertical style of authority, responsibility and decision making is just the opposite of how the SCCs are a new model of church from the bottom up.  It is not the chairperson but all the SCC members together who are jointly responsible for mission and different forms of outreach.