Partnerships

(Taking a look at small group and church structure through the lens of A.A.'s Twelve Traditions)

"An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose."

    After A.A. had developed a repoire with the public, and was making real change in the world of alcoholism, the president of a liquor company decided it'd be a good idea to start a public relations campaign. "Who would be better to market the banner of responsible drinking than a real A.A. member," he thought.  So, the approach was made to the A.A. member. The job would pay alot, and the member would get their chance to carry the message. 

     After much deliberation, the A.A. member walked into the A.A. headquarters in New York, asking if there was anything about this job what conflicted with A.A. policies. There wasn't at the time. However, there was a growing sense that something of this sort needed to be established. People of A.A. thought about the possibilities of a liquor company partnering up with A.A. to spread the message of responsible drinking. The more people thought about it, the clearer it became that this sort of partnership wouldn't work, lest the public would be forced to perceive A.A. as an organization supporting the responsible consumption of alcohol, or an organization calling for abstinence all together. 

    What was realized through this decision was that A.A. could never lend its name to outside enterprises. Property, money, and prestige were sure to come into play when any partnership of this kind was made. So, the A.A. member opted out of the job, and A.A. continued to be its own entity. 

     As small groups and churches, I believe the same guidelines apply. How many times have we heard of partnerships between churches and outside organizations that have received media coverage, whether the attention was good or bad? 

    The way this tradition applies is: If we are in a small group that exists within the framework of a church, and we lend, endorse, or finance the church's name by partnering with an outside organization, we are taking the risk of letting problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from sticking with our primary purpose. It really boils down to how much the church or small group cares about public opinion. If it cares a lot, then the safe move would be to stay away from partnerships altogether. If it cares little, then have partnerships galore. If we stay out of partnerships, we don't risk the problems of property, money, and prestige becoming issues that sway us out of our primary purpose. If we create partnerships, it's better to have a plan of conflict resolution because conflict will arise. 

     My personal opinion is, it's very hard to create unselfish partnerships. For example, lets say a church decides to partner up with an organization that reaches out to the homeless. It happens to be part of the church's primary purpose. So, why not? Over time, the church realizes that it's motive was to preach, while the organization's motive was to feed. The homeless people one day thought that the church was trying to convert them through food, and there were obvious religious intentions. So, the homeless decided to move to a different organization that didn't try to win them over with their religious talk. 

    If the church would have chosen to only do food, it would have felt like it was missing one its key components, that of carrying its message. On the other hand, if the organization would have insisted that the process was already working fine, the public opinion wouldn't have been altered. 

    So, creating partnerships between churches and outside organizations is risky business that deserves a well thought plan of action and conflict resolution. 

Group Question: Does anything we do affiliate, endorse or bind the group, actual or implied, to any related facility or outside enterprise?

Personal Questions:

1. Should my fellow group members and I go out and raise money to endow several beds in our local hospital?
2. Is it good for a group to lease a small building?
3. Some people will stay around only if we have creature comforts. If this is what is required to carry the message to them, should we have these things?