Ok---at A.A. in many states over many years I have always understood that:
(1) I select one home group (not 2 or 3) (2) My home group is the group to which I commit my service first (before doing service work in support of some other group) (3) When issues of group conscience have been discussed (by all who wish to participate in the discussion), only home group members vote (during a business meeting) (4) Trusted servants like secretaries, treasurers, GSRs should be voted in (not just volunteered and dubbed "it" by the crowd)
Today in a meeting I was told that:
(1) A person can have as many home groups as they want (2) The group is the same as the meeting (3) Everyone can vote at a business meeting whether or not it is their home group
I must mention that when I referred to the booklet The AA Group--with which I am very familiar--I got shot down (because everything is only just a suggestion, don't ya know?) The meeting has a lot of newcomers and is not real connected to the District.
Share ESH please!
Backstory--this group sez they want me to be the secretary (they have had none, and no GSR-they do have a treasurer) but when I said the home group members needed to vote on that, all heck broke loose!!
Every group is autonomous, that means they can do what they want, how they want, and they have the right to be wrong
You have the right to change that and try to bring this group in line with AA as you know and understand it, you also have the right to try to herd cats
Where I am now they have "Groups" which have many meetings, so one business meeting can cover 40-50 meetings in one location
Where I got sober each meeting is autonomous and has it's own business meeting, the meeting is "The Group", this is a difference in geography not philosophy, personally I prefer each meeting being autonomous but only because that is "what I grew up with"
"Attraction not promotion" I had a friend who moved to an area that sounds like AA where you are now, she found some other old timers and it took maybe 5 or 10 years but now AA is structured "correctly" or "her way" there now
She doesn't seem any happier but it gave her something to do for ten years and she stayed sober
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it's not the change that's painful, it's the resistance to change that is painful
Good points---glad for the reminder about the influence of gepgraphy (local culture). I am definately NOT going to try to "restructure" the meeting or the group-just didn't appreciate all the flak I got for offering to do something they said they wanted done! I can see I need to adjust my perspective--thanks. I think I'll just let the cats herd themselves, or not, as they see fit, and just go with the fur...uh, I mean the flow. LOL
AA Politics can be....challenging, good growth opportunity
I've done all the growing I can handle in that area personally, but it truly was good experience, it was like giving the math club at school drinks, "crack cocaine", and guns
Alcoholics and "control issues"
good times
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it's not the change that's painful, it's the resistance to change that is painful
LOL LB. I'm still in the middle of the "growth opportunity" as you put it. I've never been one for politics, but I am all about staying sober. I know it's a ways off, but I made my sponsor promise to let me know if I was ever turning into a bleeding deacon. I don't wanna take it that far.
K.....
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Nothing ever truly dies. The universe wastes nothing. Everything is simply, transformed. :confuse:
I know there is a difference between a Group and a meeting. I think a group can vote and have reps at zone/district events.
I say get involved, do as the Romans do, contribute to the organization and well being of the group and help get others involved, and help make sure the meeting always happens.
Good Luck!
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Rob
"There ain't no Coupe DeVille hiding in the bottom of a Cracker Jack Box."
I know there is a difference between a Group and a meeting. I think a group can vote and have reps at zone/district events.
I say get involved, do as the Romans do, contribute to the organization and well being of the group and help get others involved, and help make sure the meeting always happens.
Good Luck!
In Some areas the meeting -is- the group, and votes, and has representation at zone and district events, and other areas a group will host a "block" of meetings, and provide one GSR to represent the entire "block" of meetings, usually if a "group" rents a hall full time, all the meetings in that hall are part of that group, whereas a "meeting" that represents itself usually rents a space for 2 hours, once a week, thus requires it's own business meeting
For example, In Mill Valley, The Tuesday Night Beginners and Mens Stag will both have seperate representation at county/zone/district in Marin, because they are 2 totally and seperate groups although they both meet in the same room, they each have seperate GSR reps, H and I reps, Teleservice reps, Bridging the gap reps, etc but here, where I am now, "The Traditionals" hosts both a Tuesday newcomer and a Thursday Stag but both have the same rep (although that rep may not even that meeting) since they are both part of "The Traditionals Group" (along with 33 other meetings hosted by The Traditionals) and all 35 meetings hosted by The Traditionals have one business meeting that covers all 35 meetings, one GSR, one H and I rep etc. They read the same announcements before each meeting, they are all seperate meetings but run by "one group" and the business meetings cover all 35 meetings.
In Marin all 35 meetings would be considered seperate "groups", except the 7ams are "one group", the nooners are another, the 6PM's yet another, and each of the 8 PM's are an autonomous entity since they are so much larger and diverse
I had never encountered "Groups" that hosted more then one meeting for a great many years before I moved here, even the meetings at The Local Alano Club were autonomous and each had seperate representation and voted seperately at district
So it depends on the location and the specific meeting whether the meeting or "The Group" is an autonomous entity that requires representation, and it's up to the discretion of the group conscience and whether or not all the meetings are in one location whether a meeting is an autonomous entity or a member of a group
For example, one church in Larkspur has wed beginners followed by wed step study, fri beginners followed by the fri book study, all 4 meetings are seperate groups and have their own business meetings (once a month for the newcomer meetings, maybe twice a year for the old timer meetings) so have 4 GSR's, 4 H and I reps, 4 Bridging the gap reps, etc etc
I prefer the "meeting is autonomous" and is a group appraoch personally for many reasons, one is it provides more commitments for newcomers, you can pick up a greeting commitment, a clean up commitment, a chair set up commitment etc immediately and at 6 months pick up commitments with a little more responsibility, 1 year can secretary, and at 2 years can GSR etc whereas the Groups I have seen you have to be a member of the group for 3-6 months (which took me about 6 months to "become a member" even though I kept filling out the sheet of paper so I wasn't even eligible to get a commitment at a meeting even WITH plenty of sobriety and there wasn't nearly enough commitments being given to newcomers, so by the time I was even eligible to take a commitment I was like F it, i tried to take a commitment for a year and wasn't "allowed" because they kept losing my "membership slip", run your own damn meetings, I'm bored with you people, if I had been a newcomer, I'd be a dead newcomer
that is strictly opinion however, from clinical observation AA seems to be fine even if they don't run it "my way"
dammit
-- Edited by LinBaba on Tuesday 16th of November 2010 02:48:31 AM
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it's not the change that's painful, it's the resistance to change that is painful
LinB said "I've done all the growing I can handle in that area personally." and that made me realize that a big part of my surprise at how some people were reacting was because I've done all forms of service work for about 20 years and had never run into anything quite this loosey-goosey before. Frankly, it never occurred to me that this is actually "the way it's done" up here, at least in this little town.
Then again, I've never lived in NH before. I should have seen it coming...after all, the state motto is "Live Free or Die."
Anyway, I've decided to give it a shot (with attention to flexibility and humility). The group was down to 3-4 people and wasn't even making coffee just a few months ago. Now the coffee's ready when people arrive and we're up to about 15 regulars.
-- Edited by leeu on Friday 19th of November 2010 08:44:08 PM
Hi I recently returned to my homegroup, and group that I set up over 23 years ago. The group had fallen into the category of a meeting, and there were no longer any homegroup members (or so I was informed).
Anyway I was asked to take over the meeting again as Secretary, and so I set out to set the meeting up as I had traditionally done over 23 years ago, gaining other group members etc. Now I have been advised by a member who has been doing the treasurer job for the group that this is his homegroup, but it gets trickier, because he does service for other groups as well. That's the problem with members belonging to many homegroups. They believe that they can have a say in every one of them (in my hometown anyway). Now this is my personal experience as an alcoholic, and as an AA member. Prior to coming into AA I never committed to anything. Belonging to a homegroup helped me to learn to commit to something. As it says in the Home group pamphlet. Traditionally the whole purpose of a homegroup was to belong to a close knit group where you got close to the other members, and learned to trust.
I read the origins of the AA homegroup, and it stated that traditionally you had one homegroup. We have come a long way from that concept, and it reflects in the recovery (or lack thereof of the members in my hometown).
