Too Much Business, Not Enough MessageToo Much Business, Not Enough Message
Alcoholics Alive!
Shank and Wayne reflect on AA’s General Service Conference agenda, questioning whether increasing business and literature projects truly help alcoholics. Their conversation mixes humour with serious concerns about finances, simplicity, and keeping AA focused on its primary purpose.
59:55•5 May 2026
Too Much Business, Not Enough Message: Keeping AA Simple and Effective
Episode Overview
- Trusted servants are asked to be responsive, responsible, and open-minded, allowing group conscience to speak rather than pushing personal agendas.
- AA’s service structure, especially the conference, may benefit from doing less business and refocusing on directly carrying the message.
- Financial stewardship matters: reserves, spending on literature and projects, and losses like those from the Grapevine need honest, hard decisions.
- Core books such as Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve and Twelve, well translated and placed where needed, can be more effective than layers of specialised materials.
- Service doesn’t always require a title or motion—just showing up to help, guided by prayer and simple spiritual principles, can be enough.
“"Are we doing more service or just creating more service work?"”
Curious about how others manage their sobriety while getting tangled in AA service? Alcoholics Alive! brings Shank and Wayne together to chat frankly about the 76th General Service Conference agenda and why they feel there’s "too much business, not enough message." You’ll hear them read from the Twelve Concepts for World Service and talk about what it really means to be a "responsive and responsible" trusted servant, without getting married to your own opinions.
They question whether the conference still acts as "the fellowship's voice and effective conscience" or has drifted into layers of process, workbooks and endless reviews that don’t clearly help the alcoholic who still suffers. There’s a candid look at AA finances, including concerns about reserves, spending on new literature, and the long-running losses of the Grapevine.
One sharp line sums up their worry: "Are we doing more service or just creating more service work?" If you’ve ever sat through a business meeting wondering the same thing, this one will ring a bell. Shank and Wayne also call for a return to simplicity: focus on core books like Alcoholics Anonymous and the Twelve and Twelve, translate them well, and get solid meetings into prisons rather than flooding facilities with underused pamphlets.
They share how AA taught them practical financial sanity in their own lives—reserves, living within their means, and using surplus to help others. Amid the serious questions, there’s plenty of humour. Their "Meeting Shrapnel" segment pokes fun at slogans like "T.R.U.S.T – Try really using Step 3," "W.A.I.T – Why am I talking," and "AA is a lifeboat, not a houseboat," scrapping each with a laugh while still nudging you to think.
If you’re active in AA—or thinking about service beyond making the tea—this conversation might have you asking: what’s actually helping alcoholics, and what’s just keeping us busy?
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