The Irresistible Revolution, Updated and Expanded: Living as an Ordinary Radical

by Shane Claiborne

But the growth is not up but out. It’s about a movement, not a monument. Think about Alcoholics Anonymous. While I don’t think the church needs to replicate AA, I do think we can learn some things from them. Most of us have heard the Twelve Steps, but not we’re not as familiar with the Twelve Traditions, which are phenomenal: http://www.aa.org/assets/en_US/smf-122_en.pdf. The leadership of AA has been called a nonhierarchical “inverted pyramid,” very different from much of the church. AA is also self-supporting—no outside donations. (They give the donor too much power.) Anonymity and the inverted pyramid model means no spokesperson. (It has been called a “benign anarchy.”) They neither have nor need any buildings or professional staff. The public relations policy is one of attraction rather than promotion. And it is one of the most pervasive movements in the world—hundreds of thousands have found healing and community.