Two Forms of Service, One Primary Purpose
By Douglas W.,
(webservant@aascv.org)
“Our Twelfth Step is never to be paid for, but those who labor in service for us are worthy of their hire.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 171)
I didn’t find much inspiration in the meetings I attended over the last couple of weeks. That’s usually where I listen and decide what subject to write about from what I’m learning.
Instead, this month I reflected on the process of finding a topic. I looked back at the A.A. articles I’ve written in my digital archive and counted how often each Tradition appeared. Tradition 8 had the lowest count—along with Step 8—so that may be next month’s article.
Tradition 8 — “Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.”
At first, Tradition Eight can sound contradictory. Alcoholics Anonymous must remain nonprofessional, yet it may employ people and pay them for their work. How can both parts be true?
The answer rests in a distinction that is vital to how A.A. works: we never pay someone to carry the message as one alcoholic helping another, but we may pay people to perform the practical work that makes carrying the message possible.
Our Message is Freely Given
A.A. began with one alcoholic talking to another. That personal connection remains at the center of our Fellowship. No degree, professional class, salary, or official position can replace the identification that occurs when one alcoholic honestly shares their experience with another.
The Eighth Tradition begins with the statement that A.A. “should remain forever nonprofessional.” The Long Form explains what this means: “We define professionalism as the occupation of counseling alcoholics for fees or hire.” (Alcoholics Anonymous, pg. 564)
The issue is not whether A.A. members can have professional careers. Many members work as doctors, counselors, therapists, social workers, educators, administrators, or treatment professionals. The issue is whether someone is being paid to do A.A. Twelfth Step work.
The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions puts the matter plainly: “Alcoholics simply will not listen to a paid twelfth-stepper.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 166)
When I sit with a newcomer, answer a Twelfth Step call, share my experience at a meeting, or sponsor another alcoholic, I do those things freely. I am not selling recovery. I am passing on what was freely given to me.
This protects both of us. The newcomer does not become a customer, and I do not become an authority who claims professional ownership of the A.A. message. We meet as equals.
“There is no professional class of members in A.A. being paid to carry the message to others. This is something we do for ourselves - and for each other.” (Experience Has Taught Us, pg. 9)
When Service Becomes a Full-Time Job
Although the A.A. message is given freely, a large amount of the practical work must be completed every day.
The telephones must be answered. Meeting information must be updated. Literature must be ordered, received, stored, and distributed. Websites must be maintained. Financial records must be kept. Legal forms must be filed. Newsletters must be prepared. Emails receive replies.
A.A. learned through experience that volunteers cannot always provide this continuity.
The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions describes the early experience of trying to operate clubs entirely with volunteer labor. Volunteers were asked to sweep floors, prepare coffee, and attend to the building seven days a week. Before long, some stopped showing up. The work still had to be done.
The conclusion was practical: “The job was not to do Twelfth Step work; it was to make Twelfth Step work possible. It was a service proposition, pure and simple.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 168)
An office manager who answers the telephone is not paid to sponsor the caller. The manager may listen carefully, gather essential information, suggest a few A.A. meetings to attend and connect the caller with an A.A. volunteer.
A website servant may keep meeting information accurate, but that servant is not selling recovery. These workers maintain the practical channels through which A.A. becomes available.
Following Tradition 8, I have been paid for my web services once, but I consider my time as a service commitment, while getting paid for my time was nice, it is not necessary for me to do website work.
The Central Office or Intergroup
The intergroup or central office is one of the clearest examples of Tradition Eight in action.
A central office is supported by participating A.A. groups and A.A. members. It performs services that are difficult for each group to provide independently. Some examples:
Responding to telephone and walk-in requests for help
Maintaining current meeting information
Connecting callers with Twelfth Step volunteers
Stocking and selling Conference-approved literature
Printing and releasing meeting directories and newsletters
Coordinating Public Information and Cooperation with the Professional Community requests
Communicating additional information among local groups and meetings
Supporting local events and service committees
The pamphlet, The A.A. Group…Where it all Begins, defines the need of the Intergroup or Central Office “Due to workload, a local service system of this type seems to work better if it is handled separately from the work of the area general service committee. Most intergroups function with only one or two paid workers (some have none) and so rely heavily on A.A. volunteers for help. Many A.A.s have found that serving at intergroup — answering calls from alcoholics and doing what else needs to be done — greatly enriches their sobriety and broadens their circle of friends.” (pgs. 37-38)
This partnership is important. The paid worker provides continuity, administrative skill, and daily availability. Volunteers supply the personal Twelfth Step connection.
A local Central Office or Intergroup might have a paid office manager who opens the office each weekday, answers calls, maintains records, manages literature inventory, prepares reports, and updates the meeting directory. At night or on weekends, volunteer members may answer the telephone. Other volunteers may serve on the board, deliver literature, write newsletter articles, carry meeting information to treatment or correction facilities.
The office works because both kinds of service are present.
My local experience reflects this service. These services are supported through Seventh Tradition contributions from local A.A. groups, A.A. meetings and A.A. members.
Paid Workers Are Not “Professional A.A.s”
In A.A.’s early years, paid workers were sometimes treated with suspicion. Some members believed anyone receiving wages from an A.A. service office was making money from A.A.
The Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions describes secretaries, cooks, caretakers, and authors being criticized, even though they were performing jobs rather than selling Twelfth Step work. A.A. eventually recognized that this criticism confused employment with professionalism.
A paid A.A. employee may be a professional secretary, accountant, editor, manager, or technology specialist. That does not make the employee a professional A.A. member.
“They are professional secretaries, but they certainly are not professional A.A.’s.” (Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, pg. 169)
The same principle applies when A.A. members work outside the Fellowship. A member may earn a living in alcoholism treatment, nursing, social work, or corrections. That person is being paid by an outside organization to perform a professional job. They are not being paid by A.A. to carry out sponsorship or ordinary Twelfth Step work.
The boundary must remain clear. The member should not use the A.A. name for personal promotion, imply A.A. endorsement, or present professional services as official A.A. activity.
Special Workers Should Receive Fair Pay
Tradition Eight does not suggest that paid workers should work for less than their services are worth.
Concept XI states: “We believe that each paid executive, staff member or consultant should be recompensed in reasonable relation to the value of his or her similar services or abilities in the commercial world.” (The A.A. Service Manual, pg. C-44)
This is an important spiritual point. Asking a worker to accept unfairly low compensation simply because the employer is an A.A. service office places a burden on that person that we would not place on other members.
The Service Manual warns that poorly compensated workers may feel insecure and become less effective. It concludes: “This is neither good spirituality nor good business.” (The A.A. Service Manual, pg. C-45)
A.A. should use its funds prudently for a stated purpose, but prudence does not require exploiting dedicated employees. If a position is necessary, its responsibilities should be clearly defined and the compensation should be reasonable.
Volunteers and the Spiritual Value of Rotation
Most A.A. service positions are unpaid and rotate: A group secretary, treasurer, a General Service Representative (GSR), Intergroup Representative (IGR), committee chair, or District or Area officer usually serves for a stated term and then steps aside.
Rotation gives other members an opportunity to serve and grow spiritually. It prevents authority from becoming attached to one personality and reminds us that no individual owns a service position.
“Traditionally, rotation ensures that group tasks, like nearly everything else in A.A., are passed around for all to share.” (The A.A. Group, pg. 28)
Stepping away can be difficult, particularly when we enjoy the work or often we believe nobody else is ready or will do a good job. Yet handing over the position can become an act of humility. When rotating we must prepare the next trusted servant, we pass along records, explain what we have learned, write documentation and remain available without trying to control the position. I am about to rotate out from my Panel 75 commitments in Area 93, (I moved to Arizona mid panel, but was committed to finish my responsible), I have written what I did and how I did it, because when I accepted Area 93 and my District Registrar positions, I got no help, I started from nothing.
Rotation is not abandonment. Good rotation includes training, documentation, cooperation, and a responsible handoff.
When Special Skills Limit Rotation
Rotation is a guiding principle, but A.A. experience also recognizes that it cannot be applied mechanically to every paid or specialized position.
Some work requires years of training, technical knowledge, professional credentials, or detailed institutional experience.
Our Service Manual explains that most “General Service Office staff assignments rotate, but office-management assignments may have limited rotation because of the special skills involved. It also notes that fixed terms of employment can be impractical and unfair when a worker has required several years of training.” (The A.A. Service Manual, pgs. C-45-C-46)
Positions that may reasonably require longer service or limited rotation include:
Financial and accounting work
Publishing and production management
Archives administration
Information technology and database management
Legal or human-resources responsibilities
Executive office management
Skilled editing, writing, or design
Specialized administrative systems
Concept XI gives the example of literature work, where “a paid writer and consultant” may be necessary to provide the required professional skill. (The A.A. Service Manual, pg. C-40)
This does not mean specialized workers should become unaccountable or indispensable. Clear job descriptions, supervision, performance reviews, shared records, and succession planning remain. The principle is that we do not remove a capable worker merely because an service term has expired when doing so would damage continuity.
Volunteer leadership should rotate whenever practical. Paid staff employment should be based on competence, accountability, and the needs of the service entity.
Two Forms of Service, One Primary Purpose
Tradition Eight gives A.A. a workable balance. The sponsor gives time freely. The Twelfth Step volunteer answers the call without charge. The meeting secretary, treasurer, intergroup representative, and committee members serve without seeking personal gain.
Alongside them, a paid office manager keeps the doors open. An employee may update the meeting list. An accountant protects the contributions entrusted to the office. An editor prepares literature or a newsletter. A technology worker keeps the website available to someone searching for help late at night.
Each role is different, but each supports the same primary purpose.
Tradition Eight asks us to avoid two extremes. One is professionalizing the spiritual work of one alcoholic helping another. The other is expecting volunteers to maintain every demanding, daily, or highly technical service regardless of workload or skill.
A.A.’s experience offers a clear test: Are we paying someone to carry the message, or are we paying someone to make carrying the message possible?
The message must remain free. The work that supports it may be fairly compensated. When we understand that distinction, paid workers and volunteers can serve together without weakening A.A.’s spiritual foundation.
I AM RESPONSIBLE when anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of AA to always be there. And for that: I Am Responsible.
My article draws from Conference-approved A.A. literature: Alcoholics Anonymous, Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions and The A.A. Service Manual (BM-31). Pamphlets, The A.A. Group…Where it all Begins (P-16), and Experience Has Taught Us (P-91).