May Call Themselves

The Long Form needs nobody's permission to make an A.A. group, and the rumour that it does hands the groups to whoever claims to give that permission. The Big Book (p. 563): "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." Count what the sentence asks for. Two or three. Alcoholics. Gathered for sobriety. No other affiliation. It does not ask for a building, a charter, a registration, a facility to host it or an office to approve it. "May call themselves" means the group names itself; nobody names it for them. Today people who want to start a meeting are sometimes told they first need a church or a centre to take them on, or someone's approval before it counts. The ones who believe it go looking for a host, and the host is exactly how the other affiliation gets in. A meeting list is a service that tells drinkers where to find groups. It is not a licence, and being left off one makes a group no less A.A. The words that make a group were written for the two or three, not for anyone above them. Test it tonight: ask your group whether it believes it exists because of its members, or because of someone's permission.