MSCA - Mid Southern California Area 09 of Alcoholics Anonymous

Delegate's Bulletin Board

21 July 2020
Ed L., msca09delegate70@yahoo.com, (760) 964-0012

My Reflections on Concept 2¹

The Short Form of the 12 Concepts is included on page IV and the Long Form on pages V and VI with an essay from Bill W on pages 8-10 of the 2018-20 Service Manual:

Short Form: 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.

Long Form: When, in 1955, the A.A. groups confirmed the permanent charter of the General Service Conference, they thereby delegated to the Conference complete authority for the active maintenance of our world services and thereby made the Conference – excepting for any change in the Twelve Traditions or in Article 12 of the Conference Charter – the actual voice and the effective conscience for our whole Society.

• Original Conference Charter 1955 with foot-noted amendments is in Appendix A in the 2018-20 Service Manual from pages S96-S100

• Current Conference Charter including amendments is in Appendix C in 2018-2020 Service Manual, pages S103-108

• Both the original and current charters are comprised of 12 Articles and a Resolution that “Authorizes the General Service Conference to Act for Alcoholics Anonymous and to Become the Successor to Its Co-Founders,” Bill and Bob.

• In 1955, Article 3 of the Charter read: “But no change in the AA Tradition itself may be made with less than the written consent of two-thirds of all the AA groups,” which was amended in 1957 to read: “But no change in Article 12 of the Charter or in the Twelve Traditions of AA or in the Twelve Steps of AA may be made with less than the written consent of three-quarters of the AA groups, as described in the Resolution adopted by the 1955 Conference and Convention.” (Bold words show the revisions)

• Article 12 of the Conference Charter is also referred to as the “General Warranties of the Conference,” which states: “(1) In all its proceedings, the General Service Conference shall observe the spirit of the AA Tradition, taking great care that the Conference never becomes the seat of perilous wealth and power; (2) that sufficient operating funds, plus a prudent reserve, be its prudent financial principle; (3) that none of the Conference members shall ever be placed in a position of unqualified authority over any of the others; (4) that all important decisions be reached by discussion, vote and, whenever possible, by the substantial unanimity; (5) that no Conference action ever be personally punitive or an incitement to serious public controversy; (6) that though the Conference may act for the service of Alcoholics Anonymous, it shall never perform acts of government; and (7) that, like the Society of Alcoholics Anonymous which it serves, the Conference itself will always remain democratic in thought and action.”

• Note that Concept 12 is the same as Article 12 of the Charter: “The Conference shall observe…” these same seven warranties.

• The General Service Conference of the United States and Canada (according to the World Service Meeting Final Report in 2018, there are 38 other General Service Offices around the world) is comprised of 135 voting members, including 93 Area delegates, 21 trustees (14 alcoholic Class B, 7 nonalcoholic Class A) of the General Service Board, 6 directors of AA World Services and AA Grapevine, and 15 staff members of the General Service Office and Grapevine.

• For something to be “Conference-approved,” it is typically considered by several Conference Panels and then must receive substantial unanimity, or a two-thirds vote, to become a Conference Advisory Action, which must subsequently be adopted by the General Service Board.

Concept II Essay by Bill W on pages 8-10 of the 2018-2020 Service Manual:

• Page 8: In order to get effective action, the groups must delegate the actual operational authority to chosen service representatives who are fully empowered to speak and act for them.

• Page 8: In 1937, the Akron and New York groups authorized Dr. Bob and me [Bill W] to create over-all services which could spread the AA message world-wide…On our own, however, we knew we could do little, and so we had to find trusted servants who in turn would help us.

• Page 9: In 1938, The Alcoholic Foundation [currently the General Service Board] was formed as a small trusteeship of AA members and our nonalcoholic friends. In 1941, the AA groups began to send contributions to The Alcoholic Foundation for the support of our over-all service office, the Trustees’ control over world service monies became complete.

• Page 10: [In 1955] At St. Louis [ultimate authority] went from Dr. Bob and me [Bill W] to the AA groups themselves. No matter what authority the groups had, they could not meet their new responsibilities until they had actually delegated most of the active ones. It was precisely in order to meet this need that the General Service Conference of Alcoholics Anonymous was given the general responsibility for the maintenance of AA’s world services and so became he service conscience for AA as a whole.

• Page 10: Exactly as Dr. Bob and I [Bill W] earlier had found it necessary to delegate a large part of our active authority to the Trustees, so have the AA groups since found it necessary to delegate these same powers to the General Service Conference.

Personal reflections

• In my 13 years of General Service, first as a GSR for a Saturday night candle light meeting in Wrightwood for two years, then District 19 secretary in Apple Valley for five years, then Area 09 Grapevine Standing Committee Chair for two years, Area 09 Secretary for two years, Area 09 Treasurer Accounts Receivable for two months, Area 09 Alternate Delegate for two years, and now Area 09 Panel 70 Delegate for the past six months into my two-year term, I’ve been able to see how representation and delegation work.

• The functional structure, responsibility, and representation begins with the General Service Representatives (GSR), who represent as many Groups as will elect them. The GSRs then meet with District Committee Member Chairs (DCMCs), District Committee Members (DCMs), District officers (usually Secretary, Treasurer, Registrar, at a minimum), and Standing Committee Chairs (Public Information, Cooperation with the Professional Community, Corrections, etc.) and perhaps Coordinating Committee Chairs (H&I, Young People in AA, Intergroups, etc.) in monthly District meetings.

• The Spirit of Rotation ensures that we do not suffer from the Spirit of Stagnation, and “empower” any individual more than necessary, and – like at our Group meetings – to ensure that everyone who wants to serve has the opportunity. Perhaps laughably, here we are ensuring that none of our trusted servants at the Group level dominates “the seat or perilous power” (like I’ve experienced in some Zoom meetings!)

• To be sure that Groups and Districts are informed and represented at the Area level, District representatives then meet with Area representatives a minimum of once per month in Area 09 in a very similar structure of seven Officers, 15 Standing Committees (YPAA the newest), and three or four Coordinating Committees. Each year, Area 09 has six Area Service Committee meetings (ASCs) where we talk about the business of the AA, three Assemblies where voting takes place (including a voting Assembly every second, odd year), a Pre-Conference Workshop, and two Service Events (Servathon in November and Hispanic-hosting District FORO in July).

• To be sure Area 09 was represented, we spent 3.5 months gathering individual and Group consciences on 96 Agenda Items that were identified for the 2020 Panel 70 Conference. We collected the feedback through electronic forms soliciting input on each Agenda Item. On April 5, we had a Preconference Workshop with 145 persons, where for six hours we talked about how to gather information and specifics on all Agenda Items. In previous panels, only a few of the sexier items were brought to the Area, but in my tenure in the last 2.5 years as alternate delegate and delegate, I’ve made sure that ALL Agenda Items (and not just those that interested me) were discussed and voted on. We received 127 individual pieces of feedback from English-speaking Groups and Districts and only 11 from the Spanish-speaking community, which was hampered by lack of computer and electronic technologies.

• Prior to the May 16-19 Conference (which is 135 people but also an annual event), I met with 16 of 24 Districts to discuss the 96 Agenda Items and 1,100 pages of Background Information, which I read three times, tabulating notes. Since the Conference, I’ve met with 16 Districts for an hour to provide a report-back on the Conference results and am scheduled to meet with five more, to ensure those who want it have a direct link to New York and the General Service Conference.

• The most meaningful contributions from delegates are through one of the 11 primary and 2 secondary Conference Committees on which we serve for our two-year terms. I was assigned to the Conference Literature Committee, which considered 28 of the 96 Agenda Items, the most of any committee (Public Information was second with 15 Agenda Items). This year, for seven hours, the 10 of us on the Literature Committee (4 Panel 69, 5 Panel 70, and 1 General Service Office member assigned to Literature) met three times in May to discuss the 28 items, revise content as needed, recommend Advisory Actions, identify Committee Considerations, and identify those items to be brought back in 2021 with no discussion in 2020.

• It’s also true that delegates vote the conscience of their Areas, but with only 1 of 135 potential votes, this (relative to input at the committee level) is a relatively insignificant contribution.

• As I see it and as it relates to Concept 2, my responsibility is embodied in my mission statement and promise to Area 09, which reads: “I’m committed to being totally available and responsible to Mid-Southern California Area 09 members, to help provide a healthy infrastructure to communicate among individuals, Groups, Districts, Area, and the General Service Office, while using as few acronyms as possible!”

In Love and Service,

1. Prepared in preparation for an AA meeting in Area 05 on 7/21/2020 where I was asked to share on Concept 2