What the church can learn from AA

Over the past few weeks I have been part of an on going dialogue with some of my buddies regarding the meaning of THE CHURCH. Our conversation has taken place over the past three weeks via email and has caused us each to stop, think, and ponder the meaning of THE CHURCH. I don’t have the room or space to mention all that we have discovered and talked about. I do however, have time to mention a few things.

Anytime I think of the meaning of THE CHURCH I read, “I stand by the Door” by Sam Shumaker, one of the spiritual fathers of Alcoholics Anonymous. The poem chronicles how Sam views his role within THE CHURCH as he remains and stands by the door. After reading the poem I said to myself, “self, it is time to see if Sam wrote anything else that might be of interest.” You know what, he did. I stumbled across an article entitled, “What the Church can Learn from AA.” The article noted the words Shumaker spoke at an AA gathering in St. Louis with thousands celebrating 20 years of sobriety. Shumaker uses 1 Corinthians 1:26 as the key text for his speech. “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”

According to Shumaker there are four things that the Church can learn from AA. Read on and you will find out the four things along with some direct quotes from Shumaker that pertain to each point:

1. Recognize the Need

   The first thing I think the church needs to learn from AA is that nobody gets anywhere till he recognizes a clearly-defined need. These people do not come to AA to get made a little better. They do not come because the best people are doing it. They come because they are desperate. They are not ladies and gentlemen looking for a religion; they are utterly desperate men and women in search of redemption.

2. Redeemed Life Changing Fellowship

   At once a new person takes his place in this redeeming, life-changing fellowship. He may be changed today, and out working tomorrow – no long senseless delays about giving away what he’s got. He’s ready to give the little he has the moment it comes to him. The fellowship that redeemed him will wither and die unless he and others like him get in and keep that fellowship moving and growing by reaching others.

3. Definite Personal Dealing with People

   I think many in the church see ourselves as we should like to appear to others, not as we are before God. We need drastic personal dealing and challenge. Who is ready and trained to give it to us? How many of us have ever taken a “fearless moral inventory” of ourselves, and dared make the depth of our need known to any other human being? This gets at the pride which is the hindrance and sticking-point for so many us, and which, for most of us in the church, has never been recognized, let alone faced or dealt with.

4. Necessity for a Real Change of Heart

   As we come Sunday after Sunday, year after year, we are supposed to be in a process of transformation. Are we? The AA’s are. At each meeting there are people seeking and in conscious need. Everybody is puling for the people who speak, and looking for more insight and help. They are pushed by their need. They are pulled by their inspiration of others who are growing. They are society of the “before and after,” with a clear line of between the old life and new life. This is not the difference between sinfulness and perfection, but it is the difference between accepted wrongdoing and the genuine beginning of a new way of life.