Protecting Our Fellowship
By Douglas W.,
webservant@aascv.org
Protecting Our Fellowship: Why Conference-Approved Literature Matters
When I first came to Alcoholics Anonymous, I was handed the book of Alcoholics Anonymous that connected me to millions of alcoholics worldwide. We read the same pages, quoted the same sentences, and found the same hope. That shared literature was part of what kept AA unified.
Over the years, some groups, meetings and service bodies have begun using materials from other outside sources. Such as Anonymous Press, Hazeleden, the Bible, and other outside publishers in place of Conference-approved AA literature. While these publications are helpful, this shift violates core Traditions, most directly Tradition 6 that protect our Fellowship from the dangers of outside affiliation.
The Danger of Outside Enterprises
Tradition Six is unambiguous: “An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 155)
When an AA group uses other outside publications as primary AA literature, they create an implicit endorsement. They’re telling newcomers and the public: “This speaks for AA.” But it doesn’t. These materials haven’t been through our Conference process. They don’t represent our collective conscience.
The Principle of Self-Support
Tradition Seven states: “Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 160)
This Tradition isn’t just about money—it’s about independence. When we purchase outside literature instead of Conference-approved materials, our dollars support commercial publishers rather than our Fellowship’s service structure. The General Service Office (GSO), which serves groups worldwide and maintains our infrastructure, relies significantly on literature sales.
As the Twelve and Twelve explains, we learned this principle the hard way: “Frightened by these complications, some groups refused to have a cent in their treasuries.” Eventually, “the pendulum stopped swinging and pointed straight at Tradition Seven as it reads today.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 162)
Our financial independence protects our spiritual independence. When we support outside publishers, we risk the very entanglements that Tradition Seven was designed to prevent.
Our Collective Conscience
Concept One declares: “Final responsibility and ultimate authority for A.A. world services should always reside in the collective conscience of our whole Fellowship.” (AA Service Manual, Concept I)
Concept Two explains how this authority is exercised: “The General Service Conference of A.A. has become, for nearly every practical purpose, the active voice and the effective conscience of our whole Society in its world affairs.” (AA Service Manual, Concept II)
When the Conference approves literature, it’s the collective conscience of AA saying: “This represents us. This carries our message.” The Conference—made up of delegates elected by areas, made up by districts, representing groups—is how we speak with one voice.
To bypass this process by using outside literature is to say: “I don’t trust our collective conscience. I prefer my own judgment or my group’s judgment to the wisdom of the Fellowship as a whole.”
Autonomy With Responsibility
Some may invoke Tradition Four’s autonomy clause. Yes, “each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 146)
But that same Tradition warns: “A group ought not do anything which would greatly injure A.A. as a whole, nor ought it affiliate itself with anything or anybody else.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 147)
Literature choices affect AA as a whole. A newcomer who learns AA’s message from outside publications carries that version forward when sponsoring, doing Twelfth Step work, and serving. Over time, we fragment our message through the accumulated effect of individual choices.
Principles Before Personalities
Tradition Twelve reminds us: “Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 184)
The text explains: “The spiritual substance of anonymity is sacrifice... Principles would have to come before personalities, without exception.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 184, 187)
When we bypass the Conference process and choose outside literature based on personal preference or a group’s taste, we place personalities before principles. We say our preference matters more than the collective conscience.
The Path Forward
Concept Four ensures: “At all responsible levels, we ought to maintain a traditional ‘Right of Participation.’” (AA Service Manual, Concept IV)
If we believe Conference-approved literature needs updating or expansion, we have a clear path: bring it to our group, move it through our service structure, and let it be heard at the Conference. This is how we’ve created new pamphlets and revised existing literature while maintaining our core message.
When we choose outside literature instead, we abandon this process. We take a shortcut that weakens the structure of keeping our message consistent and our Fellowship independent.
One Message, One Fellowship
Our Conference-approved literature represents the collective conscience of millions of alcoholics who found recovery and wanted to pass it on undiluted. It’s not perfect—it’s written by imperfect people—but it’s ours. It comes from us.
“The unity of Alcoholics Anonymous is the most cherished quality our Society has. Our lives, the lives of all to come, depend squarely upon it. We stay whole, or A.A. dies.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 129)
When we use outside literature, we risk precisely what Traditions Six and Seven were designed to prevent: outside entanglements that compromise our unity, our independence, and our singular focus on carrying an undiluted message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
The solution is simple: trust the process that has kept us unified for nearly ninety years. Use Conference-approved literature. Support our service structure. And if we want new literature, let it emerge from our collective conscience through the Conference—not from outside publishers seeking our market.
Let us stick to what we do supremely well: carrying one message, tested by millions of recoveries, speaking with one voice, through literature born of our collective conscience and our shared experience.
As citizens of the world, we’re free to read any resource we choose. But as AA members, we follow our Traditions and principles in our meetings, events, and anywhere AA is the core activity. Spiritual growth is rooted in personal sacrifice for the group and for AA as a whole.