Not too long ago - a couple of years back - I was given the opportunity to lead a "Sponsorship Workshop" for our local OA intergroup.

It wasn't a big deal - just a few hours in which I gave my understanding of what a sponsor is supposed to do in OA. (Interested parties can find the Powerpoint and audio files here). It was occasioned by many folks asking the question "What does a sponsor do?" and not getting a satisfactory answer.

Well, if you ask me a question, then you're (generally) gonna get one of two things:

1) What I think the Big Book says about the topic, or
2) What I think about the topic, if I don't think that the Big Book covers it.

If I'm completely clueless, then I might just tell you what my sponsor said about it (or what I've heard) but that will be accompanied by a pretty big disclaimer.

At the time, I told them that, as far as I could tell, the idea of "sponsorship" as we use it today - meaning an ongoing, long-term relationship with an "elder member" of the fellowship who acts as a sort of life-coach and sounding board - simply was not a part of the Big Book message; and I still find that to be the case.

But lately we've been reading Chapter Seven in our Wednesday Night Big Book Study meeting ("study" means "read on paragraph and beat it to death, then - if there's enough time left - move on to the next paragraph". I was sad to miss the night, some weeks back, when we were finishing up Chapter Six - I wanted to know if we could make a whole meeting out of the shortest paragraph in the Big Book - "It works - it really does." I'm betting that if Harlan was there, they got an easy forty-five minutes out of that one :) - anyway, we've been going through the chapter "Working With Others", and I'm struck by how simple the instructions are, and - once again - by how internally consistent the Big Book is.

The Big Book is meant to be the ultimate Twelfth Step - it is meant to be read by the lone alcoholic, so that - by following the instructions - he can have a spiritual awakening (which, as a by-product, keeps him sober) and then - having had that spiritual awakening - he carries that message to other alcoholics, and thus winds up forming a fellowship about him.

After a brief medical introduction (to give the book some credibility :) it starts out by telling us the personal story of one of the Fellowship's founders; it then gives us two chapters of information about the illness of alcoholism - with increasingly alarming details that hammer home the hopelessness of the situation - and follows that with a chapter detailing the need for - and the possibility of - an investigation into a spiritual solution.

After that comes the instructions (yes, that's right - if you'll read the next-to-the-last page of Chapter Two, it tells you that you won't get any instructions until Chapter Five :) for working the recovery program (up to and including the instructions for carrying the message to others), chapters addressed to the wives and employers of alcoholics, a discussion of the family life after recovery, and then a brief (anonymous) history of the movement so far, along with a hope that the reader will further that movement in his own locale.

What I find very interesting is that, in Chapter Seven - when the Big Book tells me how to carry the message to a newcomer - it seems to follow (very closely) the same order of operations that it (the Big Book) follows itself in bringing the message to me.

First off, on my first meeting with a prospect, I'm supposed to tell him some stories of my own drinking and the progression thereof; as I've moved into this, he's free to match my stories with some of his own (just the way that we all do, when we are reading Bill's Story). After he has done this - basically saying "Hey! I drink like that!" we are supposed to describe ourselves as alcoholics.

We then tell him that it's an illness, and we discuss the nature of that illness - the physical allergy and phenomenon of craving, coupled with the mental illness that causes us to drink even when we don't want to - and give a good picture of how hopeless it is.

(That's kind of a trap - we don't say "Hey! Guess what! Alcoholism is a progressive, incurable, and terminal illness! Now that I've told you that, let's find out if you have it!" No - instead, we let them identify as being the same sort of drinkers that we are, and then tell them that we're alkies, and just what that means and what it entails. Sneaky of us, isn't it? :)

Once that foundation of hopelessness is laid, we then tell them that the only remedy is a spiritual remedy. We briefly outline the program of action, and then we leave them alone; not only that, but - if they still want to quit - we leave them with our copy of the Big Book.

That's just how Bill Twelve-Stepped us all, in those first sixty pages - he told us his story, he described the illness and hammered home the hopelessness, told us (in Chapter Four) of the need for a spiritual solution, outlined that solution (in the short, numbered version of the Twelve Steps) and told us that "if you want what we have, and are willing to go to any lengths to get it, then you are ready to take certain steps".

Then, on page 60, we have to decide - are we convinced of a), b) and c)? If so, then ..."we were at Step Three" and it was time to get into action.

The original manuscript says, at that point, that if we were not convinced, that we should reread the book up to that point, or throw it away.

Then, at the second meeting, things are much simpler; at this point, it is assumed that  the newcomer has read the book. Nowadays that's a pretty big assumption; but with those first last-gaspers, it was pretty much "root, hog or die". But that was what was necessary for the newcomer to continue with the program; since the program was in the book, then the book had to be read.

But since the newcomer has read the book and has some idea of what is to be required of him, I'm supposed to let him know that I am available "if he wishes to make a decision and tell his story".

That's powerful stuff. Funny about those first eleven Steps; the only time that another person's assitance is required is in Step Five ("tell his story"), and it is considered very helpful when saying the Third Step Prayer ("make a decision"). So the book says that my roles - once the newcomer has decided that he's going to go through with this - is just to be the person to pray Step Three with, and the person to share the Fifth Step with.

And not even those are mandatory; the book goes on to tell me "do not insist upon it if he prefers to consult someone else".

And that's pretty much it. After that, it talks a little bit about possibly helping him to find a job, or giving him a place to stay if it seems appropriate. But nothing about having them call me every day or telling them what meetings to go to or advising them on their marriages or divorces - nope, none of that.

I'm not saying that it didn't HAPPEN. Just that it's not in the INSTRUCTIONS.

And I'm trying - still, again, all the time and after all these years - to learn to follow the INSTRUCTIONS; to read the black words on the white pages :)