The 7th Tradition

7^th Tradition: "Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions."

Yesterday in the Oregonian Jason Quick wrote an article on Billy Ray Bates, the phenom that amazed Portland Trailblazer fans in the early 1980s. That was before drugs and alcohol destroyed his basketball career and his life. Now he lives and ex-felon, unemployed, looking for a hand out.

Addict / alcoholics have a habit of looking for hand outs, asking for something for free, thinking that the world owes them something, and when it's not provided for them they often explode into an all too recognizable black holes of need and desire. They fall further down into their hopeless pit of addiction and respond by picking up and using some more.

I groaned as I read the article on Billy Ray. I used to love to listen and watch him play. He was truly an amazing basketball player. But here he was saying to Jason Quick that he was a completely different person from the addict that went to prison still with his hand out asking for help… telling people that he felt that the Blazers owed him.

The 7^th tradition of AA has this tendency alcoholics have in mind. It is designed to help an addict / alcoholic see that they need to take responsibility for their worlds. It is a change to taking care of oneself rather than looking for others to meet their needs. It is practiced by the group and individuals learn that with others they can be self supporting.

The tradition is a tradition not a rule. When new groups begin, often another group provides seed money to help out until the new group can support itself. Recovering alcoholics and addicts can be some of the most generous people you'll ever meet, helping each other out before they are asked to

The book Growing up Holy and Wholly, compares growing up in an evangelical home to growing up in an alcoholic home. The church’s accretion over the years has given it a reputation for holding out its hand looking for help much like the addict does. In recent years people have come to view the church as being not unlike the beggar next to the freeway exit, playing on peoples’ guilt. While people should help. It is counter to the Spirit for them to be "guilted" into helping. And the church shouldn’t beg.

Recovering alcoholics give to an AA meeting because they know the meeting needs the money to survive. They also know where the money goes and that it will not be wasted. The money doesn’t go to line someone in powers pockets. The money doesn’t’ go to a beautiful new building, or a new roof for an old building. The money goes to help other drunks stop being drunks.

When people give to many churches they do not have that confidence. Today there is a clergy class that needs to be supported. There are buildings that need to be paid off, and debts that need to be satisfied.

Many missions require that  missionaries raise close to $100,000 a year to stay missionaries. The amount of money that American religious professionals "demand" is unconscionable by the world's standards. The average pastor in America makes over $84,000 a year, and that doesn't include his benefit package.

It is not uncommon for people making less than $2000 a month to be asked to give to a missionary or a pastor making over $6000 a month. It is no wonder people often decide to give directly where there is need instead of their local congregation. They figure if they can educate a child in Africa or the Dominican Republic for $30 a month, it is money better spent. They are probably right

Until many of the other traditions are followed it is nearly impossible to follow this one. The church needs to try, however. This is not to say that organizations and foundations shouldn’t give money to the Christian enterprise, but I wonder if maybe they should give to the para –church organizations and allowing the churches to be fully self supporting. Churches need to become fully self supporting once again, and where they are guilty of acting like addicts not in recovery, holding their hands out and looking for the “easy money” --  They need to stop.

Comments

[Barefootmeg]

"Churches need to become fully self supporting once again"

I'm confused about what you mean by that. Our church (body of believers) is fully supporting in that it (that body of believers) pays (through donations given generally during the service) for all of its expenses (our building is fully paid for at this point, but we do pay our pastor $50K/yr, there's utilities, missionaries, insurance, etc.). So would you say that that's a self supporting church? Or do you see the money as coming from somewhere else and the congregants giving to para-church organizations instead?

[Malana Ganz]

Dear Stephen,
It has been hard for me to read these postings and not regard them as an encouragement in our own community to strive to do better. It is good to hear your thoughts on this, as I really don't want to be reactive and defensive. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on these subjects as there is much to think about. I'll work on being more objective.
The model for pastors working part time is an interesting one, but it is good for us all to be open to doing whatever God call us to do....it should be and will be different for each person at stages of their lives. We should temper our philosophical approach with the words of Jesus to Peter after the resurrection, when Peter asked about John's future: What is that to you? Follow me.
That is my stance when I don't understand other people's or other church's choices: I follow Jesus and trust the Holy Spirit to show others how to follow Him. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive to understand the principles that scriptures teach about moral judgment and wisdom in how to follow. Hopefully we are all learning.
Peace out, dude.

[Stephen Grant]

Malana,

Please do not read these posts as being written in response to TOL. TOL is a remarkable little community that is making its way clearly led by the Spirit. We learn from our mistakes and our successes. TOL doesn't follow the traditions. I don't think they ever will. But I have no complaints either. It is possible for there to be more than one great way to do church. As I am studying the traditions I am suggesting what the church can take from them.

[Stephen Grant]

Malana, If I said pastors shouldn't be paid I said more than I think is true. I do think we should be careful paying pastors, but I think pastors should be reimbursed to some degree. In the best of all possible scenarios, I am still a believer that pastors need to pastor in teams. In this model of a plurality of leadership all of the pastors could work part time and take responsibility for their own livings and then be reimbursed as needed for necessary time off from jobs etc... that they needed to pastor.

[Malana Ganz]

One of the goals we had for Tree of Life was to see if we could "do church" without money. We manage to do that pretty well, spending only for the meeting area and liability insurance. The other monies all go to missionaries, benevolence giving and the pastor's car payment. We never ask for money, and use all we are given. We depend on the Holy Spirit to remind people to be generous.