Question
2:
“Would
the Fellowship ask itself the question: “Are there too many
meetings and not enough groups?”
Background
Pamphlet
‘The AA Group’
The
Home Group: Heartbeat of AA
Consider
the contribution to the carrying of the message, financial and
practical implications when deliberating each question.”
Extracts
“I
think there are too many meetings and not enough groups in my area.
There seems to be a gap in the service structure between the meetings
and the intergroup assembly. The intergroup appears to be operating
on the same structure as it was twenty years ago, yet the number of
meetings in the area has perhaps doubled. As a result, there is no
responsibility and authority to co-ordinate inter-meeting relations
and public relations in the town where I live.
New
meetings are started without much consultation, or at times, no
consultation, with the locality as a whole, sometimes on the same day
or time as existing meetings, to their detriment. This in turn has
led to smaller meetings which are stretched to find enough people to
come forward for service. They are stretched financially to pay rent
and to contribute to intergroup. The ratio between long term sober
members and inexperienced members in the meetings has changed, so
some meetings do not have an adequate core of “old timers” who
know enough about guidelines, concepts and Traditions to guide the
meeting to Tradition and challenge bad behaviour.
Some
newcomers are struggling to make sense of AA. One of my sponsees
described some meetings they visited in a neighbouring intergroup as
“Off the Wall”, another described them as “crazy.” One of
these newcomers doesn’t come to meetings any more the other is
still struggling to make sense of AA.
As
AA membership grows, the service structure expands at group and
intergroup level. There has been a tendency in the past, I think, to
divide intergroups into north-South, East -West when intergroup
assemblies have grown too large. This means the region assembly has
grown too large. The division and expansion to allow for growth is
not happening in the right area of the service structure.
In
the UK I think there is something to be learned from the AA Service manual combined with the Twelve Concepts for World Service,
with respect to dividing intergroups into district committees, rather
than to dividing regions into more intergroups. Also, Dr. Bob and the
Good Oldtimers, pages 202-203,288-289. (Cleveland Central Committee).
There
are now 20 meetings in the intergroup, (reduced from 38, before the
intergroup divided last year as some members thought it was too
large). From a geographical point of view, these 20 meetings can be
identified as 7 groups, or districts. Ten of these meetings are in
the town where I live. Meetings call themselves groups. I question
whether an AA group ought really be defined by its geographical
location; whether by town, village or urban district; the larger
groups having a district committee. Potentially the 20 GSRs in the
intergroup could be reduced to 7, the remaining 13 co-ordinating
services in their locality. If this reduction had been considered
before the split, perhaps the intergroup need not have been divided
into two separate intergroups.
The
addition of another intergroup to the region does not appear to have
done much to rectify the problems of providing service to the still
suffering alcoholic at group level, which is where the newcomers are
retained or lost. I think large intergroup and regional assemblies,
with increased demand and responsibility put on officers, puts people
off from doing service.
Pressure
could be taken off those in service at these levels by reducing the
size of intergroup assemblies, by restructuring intergroups with
district committees. In the long term, perhaps with reduced numbers
of groups, as amalgamated meetings, with fewer GSRs, some intergroups
that have divided in the past might be able to consider reunifying to
reduce the number of regional reps at regional assemblies.
The
General Service Conference has recommended the establishment of
“multi meeting groups” in the past (see Guideline 1)”
(our
emphasis)
Cheerio
The
Fellas (Friends of Alcoholics Anonymous)
