Forming Committee
of United States Service Conference Narcotics Anonymous.
The Gathering – The First Ever Assembly of the US Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous!You are invited to attend and participate in the creation of the
United States Service Conference!
This is a call to action! The entire Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous is
invited to be a part of a GATHERING of our members.
This call is going out to every concerned and/or interested member, group, Area and Region of the United States Fellowship as well as the rest of the world-wide Fellowship to attend and be a part of this historical event!
Please come and be a part of the 1st Assembly of the US Fellowship!
Many of our members in the United States Fellowship of NA are coming to
grips with the idea that changes are needed in the way we conduct business
in Narcotics Anonymous. With NAWS Inc. approaching dangerously low
operating fund levels and considering the proposed changes that have been
offered from the World Board and the Service System work group, it has
become apparent that something has to be done to stem the rising tide of
imminent catastrophe facing our Fellowship.
Ever since the changes that were partially implemented with the Resolutions
and the Transition group in the late nineties and the adoption of the Twelve
Concepts in the early nineties, the guiding principles of NA service have been
under assault. Growth of the US Fellowship has also flattened out since that
time. As we have moved away from the spiritual principle of representation of
group conscience at the World Service Conference to the current system of
delegation by a small handful of World Board members and Regional
Delegates, the decision making processes of our service structure have
degraded.
NAWS Inc. has become a top-down, centralized, corporate juggernaut that has consistently mismanaged funds, embarked upon poorly prioritized projects and, in general has turned it’s back on the US Fellowship.
At the same time NAWS Inc. is using the major funding supplied by the US
Fellowship to further it’s corporate goals and agenda. It was recently stated
by a World Board member at the Service System workshop in Orlando that
NAWS Inc.’s relationship with the US Fellowship resembled that of a Robin
Hood syndrome where NAWS Inc. takes from the rich and gives to the poor.
And according to the latest update from NAWS News, November 2010, NA
World Services is operating on a 59 day reserve fund. Something is
desperately wrong. It is up to us all to come together to seek solutions.
Never before has there been such a need for a forum in the United States
where our Fellowship can come together in UNITY to address our common
concerns. The need is urgent! The time is now!
THE GATHERING – The US FELLOWSHIP ASSEMBLY is a response to the culmination of all these factors and many others that threaten to collapse our service structure
in a knee jerk reaction as NAWS Inc. goes broke! By pooling our energy, our
ideas, our resources and our collective experience and wisdom, the United
States Fellowship of Narcotics Anonymous is coming together to save our
Fellowship from even greater harm moving forward.
We invite you all to join together to reinstate the spiritual guidance that our
Fellowship was founded upon. The creation of the United States Service
Conference is an idea whose time has come. Together we can decide what
the form and function of this new service entity will be. At the initial Gathering
we will elect a temporary administrative committee, draft proposals as to the
makeup of the conference, decide the spiritual direction that we ought to be
moving in and set the framework for future conferences. Some of the agenda
items to be decided will be the forming of conference committees, a Board of
Trustees and the creation of a US Service Office.
The conflict created by the adoption of the 12 concepts has been a major
reason for the breakdown of our service structure as several of the concepts
are a direct contradiction to our 12 Traditions. Perhaps a re-write of these
concepts for service may be in order. Perhaps we ought to abolish them
altogether. All of these matters and others will be decided by us, the US
Fellowship of NA as expressed by group conscience and the spiritual
guidance of our 12 Traditions. As long as the ties that bind us together are
stronger than those that are tearing us apart, all will certainly be well.
The Assembly of the US Fellowship is not meant to be in conflict with world
services or the WSC. Since we may create service boards and committees
that are directly responsible to those they serve, there is no conflict. We invite
the World Board and NAWS Inc. to attend the Gathering. We invite members
from the European Delegates Meeting, the Canadian Delegates Assembly,
the Latin American Zonal Forum, the Asia Pacific Forum and any and all other
NA service bodies, trusted servants and interested members to join us in unity
to create a leadership conference in the birthplace of our Fellowship. It is our
hope that with the extraordinary experience, strength and hope of our
members, we will create a new service body that we can all be proud of and
put an end to the “us vs. them” mentality that has overshadowed world
services for far too long.
Join us! Attend the Gathering of the Fellowship and together we can strive to
fulfill our common vision and return to our spiritual roots. Together we can!