In Alcoholics Anonymous a Trusted Servant is a person who is practicing the Third Legacy of AA ~ Service.
In our journey of our sobriety, Service as a Trusted Servant normally begins with simple jobs for a group such as making sure the door is open, getting the room ready, greeting everyone who shows up, cleaning up after the meeting, or making coffee for the meeting each week for a month. If you become a Home Group member, then you are ‘trusted’ to show up every week, unless you have a compelling reason why you cannot attend (another Home Group member, and/or sponsor should be notified).
Within the group, the job positions grow in responsibility and length of time. To be eligible a certain period of stable sobriety is required. For example, the roles of Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary are chosen by the group members as Officers, i.e., Trusted Servants. They serve for a certain length of time, a year or two, and after that time the Trusted Servant rotates out and a different group member is elected.
Our service journey then continues outside the Home Group by becoming a GSR (General Service Representative) who is responsible to carry communications to and from the Home Group to the District and the Area, and as a result to AA as a whole. An IGR (Intergroup Representative) transfers information to and from the local Intergroup.
A further expansion of Service is accepting a Trusted Servant role at the Area level. Please see the pamphlet “Circles of Love and Service” which is based on The AA Service Manual, AA Comes of Age, and the pamphlet “G.S.R.- Your group’s link to AA as a whole.”
Area 56 recently held elections for Officers, i.e., Trusted Servants for Panel 74 (years 2024-2025). Here are one-sentence explanations why we are willing to serve:
- From Roberto C.: “I am willing to be a Trusted Servant of Area 56 as Recording Secretary because I am not useless anymore, today I have a purpose.”
- From George N.: “I am willing to be a Trusted Servant of Area 56 as Registrar because it is important to ensure that AA remains healthy and viable for alcoholics for generations to come; General Service is “gratitude in action” and so protects me from my worst enemy, myself!”
- From Brooke G.: “I am willing to be a Trusted Servant of Area 56 as Treasurer because I owe it to the future of AA to learn more about how AA General Service works, and the best way to learn is to participate in whatever action my Higher Power presents to me!”
- From Warren G.: “I am willing to be a Trusted Servant of Area 56 as Delegate because having five granddaughters, AA must maintain its Singleness of Purpose and stay true to the 12 Steps, 12 Traditions and 12 Concepts as by our founders, so that AA is here for them, and all other future alcoholics seeking a solution.
In service with gratitude,
Warren G.
Area 56 Alternate Delegate/Area Chair, Panel 72
delegate@aaarea56.org
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