Alcoholic’s Anonymous’ Tradition 2 states:
For our
group purpose there is but one ultimate authority - a loving God as He may
express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants;
they do not govern.
“God, God, God…that is all I hear about in these rooms. I’m tired of
hearing about God being the answer to all my problems. Give me something else.
Give me something to do.” The words pour out of the newcomer in his third week
of attending 90 meetings in 90 days. ”But there is not much more to give,” the old
timer informs him. “Reconnecting with a Higher Power so we don’t feel the need
to drink is what this program is all about.”
If you spend much time around AA rooms you will surely find many an
extrovert and many a type A personality, but you will find no single person or
group of persons who lead. Most find that the people they want to spend time
with because they have extended sobriety and a lot of serenity are the people
who arrive early to set up chairs or stay late to put them away. They are the
ones who volunteer to answer the phone in the middle of the night when another
drunk needs help or go out to grab a drunk who is calling for help.
These servants prove not to be didactic at all. Rather, they only make
suggestions about what has worked for them; or tell you what they were
told and what was passed down to them; but they never preach. There are never, “You
should’s” in the AA culture.
Sure, AA has an intergroup made up of people who are elected by their
individual meetings to represent the meeting to other meetings. Sure there are
people that make decisions on literature or speakers at conferences etc… but
they are all volunteer, and they are nearly all elected for short periods of
time.
One old timer in a twelve step group who has over twenty years of
sobriety is looked up to as an elder, but he would run from any hint that he
should rule or have more of a say than anyone else. He argues the most sobriety any individual can have is 24 hours and is determined by who got up earliest that day.
No, 12 steppers believe that God speaks to groups of people through group
consciences. God speaks to people through other people. God speaks to people
through nature, or a book, or a movie, or the internet, a friend or an enemy, a situation or an experience but not through governance.
There are elders but they are elder because they
have walked a long road and have a proven track record in life that is
admirable. The shop mechanic with 29 years clean and sober probably is listened to more
carefully than the doctor who has a hard time getting to one year. The quiet woman who stutters often has more to say than the articulate TV announcer in the rooms.
The whole idea that there is a position to obtain is enough to
keep most drunks drunk. There can be no positions of governing leadership.Instead of old timers looking for new comers they can “mentor,” newcomers
are encouraged to attach themselves to people that have the things that they
want in life.
I have a feeling that Jesus felt the same way. He never sought a
position. He fought against obtaining one when offered at the great temptation.
Then he commanded those who followed him to lead like he did--giving up their lives for their friends. But within a
generation they forgot how.
The church needs to learn from 12 step recovery in this matter. The clergy
class breaks his heart. The idea of apostolic succession as practiced is
anathema.
Don’t’ get me wrong. There are pastors in AA. They simply don’t
govern. They do tend to pray a lot though. They do shepherd people. They do not
rule. They trust God to do that. They learned the hard way that they shouldn’t
even try. I wish the clergy class would learn this lesson.
Throughout the third world there are young men who strive to be pastors simply because of
the position that the title gives them. Just as in the middle ages men sought
bishoprics to make themselves look and feel good, many women and men today seek
pastorates to put a salve on their own psychological wounds and deficiencies.
The results are often horrifying: spiritual abuse being the worst I can think of.
The clergy system costs the church financially and spiritually. “I’ll
let the pastor do it. After all he is paid to,” is heard again and again in
churches around the world. Ministry is now a paid position. Ministry became a
position of the elite and the common man feels powerless to lead anyone,
Meanwhile the alcoholic who has a week sober is more than happy to
reach out to the drunk coming in off the street because no such class system
exists in AA.
"I do not positions given in Scripture, only gifts to be used to serve."
So where does authority come in? I think there are positions mentioned in the Bible. Authority was given for some to be apostles, for example.
However, I agree with your overall concern that people should be using their gifts whether it comes with a title or not. If you have the gift of teaching, you don't have to be a teacher with a class to use that gift.
There's a gal in our Bible study who's in her mid-80s. She had pneumonia and ended up in the hospital so our study group went and visited her together. As we sat around talking, she'd say things that were clearly teaching from her to us. It was really delightful because despite her painful circumstances, her gift was still bubbling up out of her. She probably didn't even think about the fact that she was teaching us, but she was.
I think there are positions, but the focus shouldn't be on the positions nor on those with positions. The focus should be on the wholeness of the group such that it grows in love and unity and thereby glorifies God. Such a focus requires an understanding of and regular use of gifts. But at the same time it doesn't glorify the gifts either because they're not the point any more than positions are. The point is the health of the body such that it can give glory to God. No, actually the point is giving glory to God, and a chief means of doing that is the health of the body.
Posted by: Barefootmeg | 28 December 2009 at 08:40 PM
Malana, I do agree. My problem is not the desire to be an elder, to me that means that they desire to grow and be around for a while. My issue is with elders ruling and making a position of elder. I don't think it is a "Western corporate" model because the problems go back to the end of the 1st century (and certainly by Constantine) In some ways it goes to the disciples: "Who will sit on your right and your left in glory?" My original post tries to point out how elders in AA lead without governance and suggests that the church learn from the traditions of AA which seem to be in line with the teachings and example of Jesus.
Posted by: Stephen Grant | 16 December 2009 at 12:52 PM
1 Tim 3:1 tells us that he who desires to be an elder wants something good, so that means that God is happy when people have a dream of how to serve the body and are willing to grow in their character and faithfulness and servanthood and love to be eligible. I think the issue is that the western church is built on a corporate model. Pastoring, "eldering" "deaconing" are the results of God growing character in one and seeing one's willingness to serve. I think people need to get over the use of the Biblical terminology and learn and do what it really means, not what our culture has morphed it into. Do you agree?
Posted by: Malana Ganz | 16 December 2009 at 12:15 PM
I do not have a problem with elders as such, simply the idea of governance. I struggle with the position of pastor not the gifting of pastor. I want people to pastor and prophecy and evangelize. I do not want the actions to become positions that people strive to obtain. I do not want people to see pastoring as synonymous with governing. I do not want the words "be a" to be placed in front of it. I do not positions given in Scripture, only gifts to be used to serve. I do not see elders as ruling... I think we've secularized the idea of the elder and de-sanctified it. It is a shame...
Posted by: Stephen Grant | 15 December 2009 at 07:56 PM
so how do you explain the disciples being told to ordain elders? Are you differentiating between the scriptures and the applications?
Posted by: Malana Ganz | 15 December 2009 at 04:18 PM
By the end of the first century the church was already governed by bishops etc... the evolution or devolution had already occurred. People were seeing positions in the church as positions of governance.
Posted by: Stephen Grant | 15 December 2009 at 09:54 AM
unsure what you mean by "in a generation they forgot how" - can you explain?
Posted by: Malana Ganz | 15 December 2009 at 09:49 AM