I have been blessed to attend the World Service Business Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico USA, for the past four years as a delegate from my intergroup. It has been an incredible learning experience and a great gift to meet members of our Fellowship from around the world. We meet to learn and share experience, strength, and hope and also do the business of OA. World Service Business Conference represents the collective group conscience of OA as a whole.
My first World Service Business Conference helped me see that everyone does not think the way that I think and there are many different viewpoints on what is best for OA as a whole.
Before I went to my very first WSBC, my intergroup received information about the motions that would be presented during Conference and voted on by delegates during the business sessions. There was a particular motion that seemed simple and straightforward to me, and I remember thinking, “Why wouldn’t everyone want that?” But when we met at WSBC to discuss that particular motion, there were many people who were not in favor of that motion, and they had an opportunity to share their position. That experience really helped me see that everyone does not think the way that I think and there are many different viewpoints on what is best for OA as a whole.
Together and collectively, we work toward sharing the message of recovery. Each delegate to WSBC is asked to serve on a committee that works throughout the year to reach goals set by that committee and its sub-committees. I have been blessed to work on the Twelfth Step Within committee at Conference and was thankful that our sub-committee’s project, The Simplicity Project, was approved and is now available at oa.org on the Twelfth Step Within page.
Serving the Fellowship beyond the group level has been very helpful to me in my life and my recovery. I highly recommend that you go to your next intergroup meeting on see what you can do to serve the Fellowship.
— Edited and reprinted from The Butterflyer newsletter, Chicago Western Intergroup, September 2016
