1. A CHANNEL OF SAVING GRACE FOR EVERYBODY
Does your group (or district) behave as if they are a channel of saving grace for everybody?
It is if you hear, “Don’t worry if you’re an alcoholic or not, these steps will change your life–and you can do them ANY way you want to.” A.A. was never intended to be a “one size fits all” program. That only dilutes the program of recovery for “alcoholics of our type.”
Bill Wilson, AA Comes of Age, page 232: OUR SINGLE PURPOSE:
“There are those who predict that A.A. may well become a new spearhead for a spiritual awakening throughout the world. When our friends say these things, they are both generous and sincere. But we of A.A. must reflect that such a tribute and such a prophecy could well prove to be a heady drink for most of us—that is, if we really came to believe this to be the real purpose of A.A., and if we commenced to behave accordingly.
Our Society, therefore, will prudently cleave to its SINGLE PURPOSE: the carrying of the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. Let us resist the proud assumption that since God has enabled us to do well in one area we are destined to be a channel of saving grace for everybody.” (extra emphasis mine)
Clearly, A.A. groups are NOT to attempt to be a channel of saving grace for everybody! If they do, pride gets in the way of carrying the message of full recovery to the REAL alcoholic who desperately needs our help. We are not expected to “save” those DUI and any others who DO NOT WANT to stop drinking and are attending only because it’s required by some OUTSIDE AGENCY
(Remember, AA NEVER requires attendance and we are violating our 6th Tradition by holding anyone hostage in a meeting.)
2. BRINGING IN THE MONEY
Is making big money an important focus of your group? Do you claim that YOUR meeting is “one of the best” in your district because it’s BIG and puts lots of money into the coffers of your district/area/intergroup? Do they encourage people to “dig deep because AA needs it?” Do they host a lot of fun fundraisers?
How can groups participate? (from F-3—Self-Support: Where Money and Spirituality Mix AA pamphlet):
“ To help support A.A.’s essential services, the General Service Conference suggests that individual groups, through an informed group conscience, adopt a specific contribution plan tailored to meet the group’s financial situation.
Once the basic group expenses have been taken care of (rent, refreshments, A.A. literature, local meeting lists, G.S.R. travel expenses to attend service functions), and a “prudent reserve” has been set aside to cover any emergency contingencies that might arise, the group may decide to further carry the message by sending money to the following A.A. service entities. … The local district, the area committee, the local intergroup or central office, or A.A.’s General Service Office.”
Any group that is proud of their monetary contributions and has members that put down other groups that don’t contribute as much—has lost their focus.
If a district/area/intergroup keeps track of, and posts, WHICH group contributed WHAT AMOUNT—is this breaking a group’s anonymity? Does this encourage PRIDE and GROUP EGO-TRIPPING?
3. THE BIGGER THE BETTER
Is your home group one of those Mega-Meetings held in a church basement or auditorium? Is that important as proof that it’s better? Or is pride and ego getting in the way?
WHAT OFTEN HAPPENS IN BIG MEETINGS IS THAT….
- too much emphasis is placed on ‘fellowship’ and not on ‘the solution of the 12 Steps,’ and on ‘sharing whatever’s on your mind’ rather than ‘carrying the message.’
- newcomers come to believe that attending meetings and slogans are what will keep them sober (they are partially correct—they can stay sober one more hour by sitting in that meeting, never understanding that taking the steps is what will change their life and get them recovered).
- too many opinions, interpretations, assumptions, and inappropriately-used slogans rather than sharing the real life-saving program described in the AA textbook.
- there is heavy competition for the ‘baddest’ drunk-a-louge in town.
- has people honing their speaking skills to get on the speaker circuit (they record themselves to put out their CD to be chosen for the next speaker meeting or convention).
- assuming that the more melodramatic and gifted the speakers, the ‘better’ the meeting.
4. MAKING SURE NEW ATTENDEES GET EMOTIONAL AND WANT TO KEEP COMING BACK TO OUR MEETING.
Does your group believe that getting the audience to laugh, cry, ooh & aah are signs of a good meeting? If so, the group is no longer focused on “THE SOLE PURPOSE OF AN A.A. GROUP” and should take a group-health inventory. (see AA’s pamphlet ‘The AA Group pages 27-28. Very pertinent for large groups)
(link here for AA’s Traditions Checklist)
Letter from Bill Wilson dated 1966 and quoted in “As Bill Sees It”, page 79
“An AA group, as such, cannot take on all the personal problems of its members, let alone those of non-alcoholics in the world around us. The AA group is not, for example, a mediator of domestic relations, nor does it furnish personal financial aid to anyone. Though a member may sometimes be helped in such matters by his friends in AA, the primary responsibility for the solutions of all his problems of living and growing rests squarely upon the individual himself. Should the AA group attempt this sort of help, its effectiveness and energies would be hopelessly dissipated.
This is why sobriety—freedom from alcohol—through the teaching and practice of AA’s 12 Steps, is the sole purpose of the group. If we don’t stick to this cardinal principle, we shall almost certainly collapse. And if we collapse we cannot help anyone.”
SOLUTION:
Get BACK TO THE BASICS and STAY THERE. Find newcomers at your group who look desperate—work with them one-to-one!
If you really “just LOVE AA,” then take time to truly understand our traditions, sole purpose, singleness of purpose, and REAL AA History.
A Few of AA’s Traditions
2.—For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience.
3.— Our membership ought to include all who suffer from alcoholism. Hence we may refuse none who wish to recover. Nor ought A.A. membership ever depend upon money or conformity. Any two or three alcoholics gathered together for sobriety may call themselves an A.A. group, provided that, as a group, they have no other affiliation.
4.— With respect to its own affairs, each A.A. group should be responsible to no other authority than its own conscience. But when its plans concern the welfare of neighboring groups also, those groups ought to be consulted. And no group, regional committee, or individual should ever take any action that might greatly affect A.A. as a whole without conferring with the trustees of the General Service Board. On such issues our common welfare is paramount.
5.—Each Alcoholics Anonymous group ought to be a spiritual entity having but one primary purpose—that of carrying its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
6.— Problems of money, property, and authority may easily divert us from our primary spiritual aim. We think, therefore, that any considerable property of genuine use to A.A. should be separately incorporated and managed, thus dividing the material from the spiritual. An A.A. group, as such, should never go into business. Secondary aids to A.A., such as clubs or hospitals which require much property or administration, ought to be incorporated and so set apart that, if necessary, they can be freely discarded by the groups. Hence such facilities ought not to use the A.A. name. Their management should be the sole responsibility of those people who financially support them. For clubs, A.A. managers are usually preferred. But hospitals, as well as other places of recuperation, ought to be well outside A.A.—and medically supervised. While an A.A. group may cooperate with anyone, such cooperation ought never go so far as affiliation or endorsement, actual or implied. An A.A. group can bind itself to no one.
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ETC, a recovered (but not cured) alcoholic in Oregon
