General Service Work

by Doug W.

I have been sober for almost nine years. When I entered the rooms, they suggested I “work” the steps. I did. I got sober on April 5th, 2015, and I was finished with my steps by July. I felt a relief I had never experienced before. I have spent many years working on the Steps. I have been through the Steps a total of five times. While in Portland, I did them every year. I knew the traditions were important, but how did I work with these traditions?

The steps are a process of learning to live with myself; the traditions are to teach me how to get along with you. I had to take part in Step 12, “Principles before personalities,” that our common welfare depended on unity (Tradition 1), and that my views on how I see the “solution” to a problem are a mix of Tradition 1 and Step 7. I can make suggestions and not demands. I remind myself to keep my pride out of the solution. I have to ask myself, is this feeding my ego? Do I need God’s help?

What I observe in the Rooms is often a mix; at times, I see Recovery and less of the practice of the Traditions. The focus of Recovery to the newcomer is vital, but not at the expense of the other sides of our beloved image of the circle and triangle.

The circle and triangle are symbols that were adopted in 1955 at the 20th Anniversary International Convention in St. Louis. The circle and triangle were so commonly shared that A.A. removed the copyright to the symbol in 1995. Feel free to use it on our coffee cups and hoodies.

The circle represents an endless shape with no start or end, like our Recovery. It is always surrounding the triangle. The triangle is the three legacies — Recovery, Unity, and Service. Often, those words are placed next to each line of the three-sided triangle.

Recovery is at the base of the triangle and is the foundation; it holds up the other two lines of the triangle. Without Recovery, we lose it all, and it collapses. We get our Recovery from working the Steps, and it is exercised in the Fellowship of our meetings.

The Left line is the Unity of our Traditions. The Traditions define membership. Tradition 3, each Group is autonomous; Tradition 4, that the Group is organized around the group conscience; Tradition 2, self-supporting; Tradition 7.

Tradition 9 is organization. They may create service boards or committees directly responsible for those they serve. This is the A.A. structure that is between the members in a group meeting and the General Service Office in New York. This is the third side of the triangle.

Our triangle is a solid shape.

Tradition 9 is where Central Offices/Intergroups, Districts inside of Areas, and the Areas themselves. This is defined well in the A.A. Service Manual.

I am in District 7 of Area 93. There are 93 Areas in the U.S. and Canada. The 7th Tradition is used at every A.A. meeting to support the meeting or at their Group level. A prudent reserve is kept, defined by the Group. We pay rent and other expenses to have a successful meeting; what is a meeting without coffee? When all the expenses are met, each Group should make contributions to their Central Office, District, Area, and GSO in New York.

Our Group or individual contributions are how A.A. is funded to make and update literature. For example, there are around 100 translations of the Big Book, going out to every part of the world. At GSO, Areas and Districts are valued resources. When I started my journey into General Service, I was not aware of the value of the A.A. General Service structure, so I will list some values that contributed to my sobriety.

Central Offices/Intergroups

Contributions to your Central Office generate a simple list of benefits:

• A.A. Inquires. Answer calls at all hours to a struggling individual with a drinking problem and explain the benefits of attending A.A.
• Organize and list all meetings so anyone can find a meeting anywhere at any time. Chips and Tokens (cheaper than on-line stores)
• Literature (such as a Big Book), other books, and pamphlets are available to purchase individually or for a Group.
• Information on literature additions changes, plus knowledge of a wealth of information on available resources
• Information exchange, such as your events or workshops.
• Intergroup Representative (IGR) is your input into shaping how the Central Office serves A.A. locally.

Districts

Contributions to Districts is the first layer of General Service work that supports the entire A.A. Service Structure. The District meeting is where your Group’s conscience is expressed outside the Group, and a Group elects a GSR (General Service Representative) to carry your Group’s voice and vote at the District and Area meetings. Districts assist in registering meetings with New York and help with the process of assigning a Group ID.

Contributions to Districts generates a simple list of benefits:

• Creates Workshops addressing local issues, such as Women’s events, H&I, Traditions Workshops, etc..
• Assist Groups with understanding the General Service Structure.
• GSRs carry the message of information to the groups and vote on items affecting A.A. as a whole. This can be an important position in the A.A. General Service structure.
• DCM is the servant that organizes all incoming and outgoing information from N.Y., other Districts, and our Area. Informs other districts of our local Conventions, Events, and Workshops.

Areas

Contributions to the Area is the next layer, where all Districts and their GSOs in the Area meet to discuss issues facing their Groups and may create or facilitate committees to address those issues. The Area elects an Area Delegate every two years who represents the Area to A.A. in New York. All the Delegates meet in April to vote on issues that each Area submitted to the Conference. This April, the Conference will address 96 items in about a week’s time.

A simple list of benefits:

• Gives a local voice/vote to New York
• Organizes information between districts
• Distributes information from other Areas, Districts, or Groups.
• Creates Workshops, Events, and other information for distribution.

Unplugged

When a meeting is unplugged from the Service Structure, they will be surprised when changes happen. For example, A.A. Grapevine owns the copyright to the A.A. Preamble; they made a change from “Men and Women” to “People,” and then they asked the Conference to vote to accept the change (Released June 2021) when the Preamble started showing up in meetings, it was a surprise for many. Why were they surprised? The short answer is that they were unplugged from the General Service structure. Rumors started flying, such as, “Why did they change my beloved Big Book?” It did not involve the Big Book, but having representation would have given correct information to the Group. Better yet, our vote for a yes or no to changes that may not align with our Group consciousness. Keep in mind your vote represents the consciousness of the Group, a vote in the District, and in the Area; each Area is doing the same thing with their groups and districts; when the Area Delegates meet in New York, each Area Delegate gets a vote, and if the motion passes (2/3 majority), it is adopted. This is seen as a painfully slow process, but all registered groups from all over the U.S. and Canada create the consciences of the entire A.A., which is not aligned to a region or local preferences.

At every level, the Delegate, Officers, and Committees change leadership to keep the position from being institutionalized. Allowing for new blood and ideas a chance or the ineffective to move out.

In Closing

Changes are necessary in A.A., such as becoming more inclusive. Alcoholics represent the entire culture. And A.A. needs to at least offer changes that will help those who still suffer. However, not all changes are beneficial.

If you feel strongly about what A.A. did for your sobriety, as I do, and you want to pay back a little of what you received for free, then maybe General Service Work is for you. Some are not comfortable with the General Service Work, and that is OK.

When I see the circle and triangle symbol, I have to remind myself if it is a decoration or a declaration. By Bill W., February 1961

The Shape of Things to Come

… Just how, then, can A.A. go on changing for the better? Does this mean that we are to tinker with our basic principles? Should we try to amend our Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions? Here, the answer would seem to be “no.” Those twenty-four principles have first liberated us, have then held us in unity, and have enabled us to function and grow as A.A. members and as a whole. Of course, the perfect truth is surely something better understood by God than by any of us. Nevertheless, we have come to believe that A.A.’s recovery Steps and Traditions do represent the approximate truths that we need for our particular purpose. The more we practice them, the more we like them. So, there is little doubt that A.A. principles continue to be advocated in the form they stand now.

So then, if our basics are so firmly fixed as all this, what is there left to change or to improve? The answer will immediately occur to us. While we need not alter our truths, we can surely improve their application to ourselves, to A.A. as a whole, and to our relationship with the world around us. We can constantly step up “the practice of these principles in all our affairs.”

As we now enter upon the next great phase of A.A.’s life, let us therefore re-dedicate ourselves to an ever greater responsibility for our general welfare. Let us continue to take our inventory as a fellowship, searching out our flaws and confessing them freely. Let us devote ourselves to the repair of all faulty relations that may exist, whether within or without.

And above all, let us remember that great legion who still suffer from alcoholism and who are still without hope. Let us, at any cost or sacrifice, so improve our communication with all these so that they may find what we have found — a new life of freedom under God.

© A.A. Grapevine, used with permission.