Can Church Be More Like AA?
An Interview with Professor Stephen Haynes
Early on in my formation as a priest I sensed that something was wrong with church. Around that time I was also beginning to attend a 12 step fellowship modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). The juxtaposition of the two cultures, church and 12-step, unsettled me. In church I experienced respectable people organizing respectable activities and chatting about respectable topics at coffee hour, all orchestrated by a respectable priest. In my twelve step fellowship I experienced all sorts of people sharing openly about their spiritual struggles and triumphs, including letting go of their need for respectability. They laughed, cursed, prayed recklessly and regularly, and shared phone numbers with newcomers. No one was in charge; no one was on salary.
I remained in church and formation for the priesthood nonetheless. I loved singing hymns. I loved the sacraments. I loved the liturgical year. I loved talking about and worshiping Jesus. And yet, I also knew that when it came to fostering spiritual growth and healing, 12 step fellowships had church beat. Why, I wondered, if these fellowships had their origins in Christian theology and movements, were the cultures so different? Could the culture of church be more like 12-step groups?
I quickly realized through reading and talking with other Christians in recovery that others had been asking the same question for decades. The Rev. Sam Shoemaker, an Episcopal priest who helped Bill Wilson develop AA, delivered a speech at the AA 20th anniversary conference in 1955 titled, “What the Church has to Learn from Alcoholics Anonymous.” In the ensuing decades many others have wondered the same, enough people to fill twenty-five pages of bibliographic notes in Steve Haynes’ 2021 book Why Can’t Church Be More Like an AA Meeting? The book covers the history and theology of AA going back to early 20th century church movements, as well as contemporary ministry experiments to integrate the12-step ethos and 12-step practices into church.
I spoke with Steve Haynes this week about the question at the heart of the book. Can church be more like AA? How exactly? Or, is it a fool’s errand to try to make church more like AA based on the structural differences between the two groups: anonymous membership versus public membership; and paid, professional leadership versus non-professional, decentralized leadership? Haynes is professor of religious studies at Rhodes College, and theologian-in-residence at Idlewild Presbyterian Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He has authored several other books, including The Battle for Bonhoeffer: Debating Discipleship in the Age of Trump and The Last Segregated Hour: The Memphis Kneel-Ins and the Campaign for Southern Church Desegregation.1
In our conversation we talk about: Steve’s own journey in recovery and how it changed his views on church culture; exactly what aspects of 12 step fellowships churches seek to emulate and how they have failed and succeeded; pastors’ centralized leadership as the “kiss of death” to efforts to incorporate twelve-step culture into churches; race, class, and gender dynamics underlying the question motivating the book; and what a longing for church to be more like AA and other 12-step fellowships says about this moment in the life of the church.
One thing that stands out to me after speaking with Steve is how he senses that the 12-step movement gives people a taste of what first century Christian fellowship may have been like. Frank Buchman, one of the Christians who influenced the development of AA wrote, “the age of miracles has returned.” What if the age of miracles really has returned? What if it dawned in 12-step meetings in church basements and now the challenge isn’t just to let the light into the sanctuary, but for people to carry that light inwardly and let it guide the formation of new Christian communities?
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Steve’s book is Why Can’t Church Be More Like an AA Meeting?
In the course of talking about 12-step and politics we also discuss his books, The Battle for Bonhoeffer: Debating Discipleship in the Age of Trump and The Last Segregated Hour: The Memphis Kneel-Ins and the Campaign for Southern Church Desegregation
Haynes recommends reading about the history of Frank Buchman and the Oxford Group. “A.A. grew in part out of The Oxford Group, a Christian group founded by a Lutheran minister named Frank Buchman around the year 1919. The first group was loosely called ‘A First Century Christian Fellowship’ and the Oxford Group name was later attached to the fellowship due to coincidental affiliation with Oxford, England. The Oxford Group enjoyed wide popularity and success, particularly in the 1930’s.2
Haynes mentions Sam Shoemaker, an Episcopal priest at Calvary Church in New York and member of the Oxford Group who influenced Bill Wilson as he was developing the steps.
Haynes talks about how Celebrate Recovery is a widespread program among conservative Christians to integrate 12-step spirituality and Christian teaching (He also talks about how it abandons some of the important 12-step traditions).
Haynes mentions our meeting this past spring at a conference. That event was hosted by the Recovery Ministries of the Episcopal Church. I recommend their gatherings and resources for anyone who wants to commune with and learn from Christians in recovery. Here is info about their weekly All 12-Step Meeting.
You can listen to Haynes talk more about his book and the theology and history of AA, in an interview with Father Bill W. on the Spiritual and Religious Podcast
For a fuller bio go to https://www.eerdmans.com/author/stephen-r-haynes/ or https://www.rhodes.edu/bio/steve-haynes.
https://www.prestongroup.org/aa_docs/Oxford_Group.pdf