Even with more than 300,000 members of A.A. who are sober today as the direct result of taking all Twelve Steps in the Back to Basics A.A. Beginners' Meetings and with more than 3, 000 weekly A.A. meetings held throughout the United States, Canada and around the world, there are still some in the recovery community who are not familiar with or who are misinformed about our life-saving work.  Therefore, we will attempt to put in writing some guiding principles so that if approached by someone who doesn't understand what Back to Basic is all about, you can easily answer their questions and alleviate their fears.

On numerous occasions in the 1950's, an A.A. pioneer from St. Louis shared from the podium that, "TO BE CRITICIZED IN A.A., DO SOMETHING-ANYTHING!!!!!"  Well, we are doing something about our abysmal recovery rate, and we fully expect to be criticized for it.  But, we don't conduct Beginners' Meetings to be popular, we conduct them TO SAVE LIVES.

WE BELIEVE IN THE SOLE PURPOSE OF AN A.A. GROUP

At Back to Basics A.A. meetings we implement the A.A. principle established by Bill W., our New York City co-founder, and approved three times by the A.A. General Service Conference.  We acknowledge and affirm that taking people through the Twelve Steps is our primary purpose.

"Sobriety-freedom from alcohol-- through the teaching and practice of the Twelve Steps is the SOLE PURPOSE of an A.A. group.  Groups have repeatedly tried other activities, and they have ALWAYS failed. . . .  If we don't stick to these principles, we shall almost surely collapse.  And if we collapse, we cannot help anyone."

Bill W., The A.A. Grapevine, Inc., February 1958

(Affirmed as a guiding principle of A.A. and approved by the A.A. General Service Conference in 1969, 1970 and 1972.)

WE PRACTICE THE TWELVE TRADITIONS

At Back to Basics A.A. Beginners' Meetings we practice all Twelve Traditions while taking attendees through all Twelve Steps using the "Big Book" of Alcoholics Anonymous.  The long form of the Twelve Traditions was published in the A.A. Grapevine in April 1946, so the Traditions were in place at the time the A.A. Beginners' Meetings played an integral part in our 50-75% recovery rate.

THE BACK TO BASICS A.A. MEETING FORMAT IS NEITHER CONFERENCE APPROVED NOR CONFERENCE DISAPPROVED--AND NEITHER IS ANY OTHER A.A. MEETING FORMAT

Back to Basics is nothing more than an A.A. meeting format from the mid 1940's.  It was used by many of the A.A. pioneers to take newcomers through all Twelve Steps in four one-hour sessions.  It is a format that was approved by many thousands of A.A. Groups in the 1940's and 1950's and has been approved by more than 3,000 A.A. Groups today.

The General Service Conference does not approve A.A. meeting formats.  Each A.A. group decides upon its meeting format based upon its group conscience.  There are many A.A. meeting formats-none of them are "conference approved."

REGISTER YOUR BACK TO BASICS A.A. GROUP WITH THE GENERAL SERVICE OFFICE

Many Back to Basics A.A. Beginners Meetings are hosted by A.A. Groups that use their existing Group name rather than a separate name to designate their Beginners' Meetings.  Others operate as "stand-alone" meetings.

To prevent any misunderstanding with other A.A. groups, we suggest you register your "stand-alone" Back to Basics Beginners' Meeting as an A.A. Group with the General Service Office.  You can download the registration form from the website, www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.  At the main page, click on, "Services to Members."  At that page, click on, "AA New Group Form."  It only takes a few minutes to fill in and return the form to the General Service Office at Grand Central Station, P.O. Box 459, New York, NY  10163.  You will be issued an A.A. Group Service Number in about thirty days.

Some Back to Basics Beginners' Meetings have registered with GSO using something other than "Back to Basics" in their Group name.  This is understandable because there are already thousands of Groups registered as "Back to Basics" that are NOT A.A. Beginners' Meetings.  The name of the Group isn't important--saving lives is.

Some of the Back to Basics Beginners' Meeting names that have been registered with GSO are "Back to the Big Book Group", "Back to the 1940's Group", "Take Twelve Group", "Big Book Step Group", "Twelve Step Group", "Here Are The Steps We Took Group", "Old Fashioned A.A. Group", etc.  Whatever name you choose, please send your group General Service Representative to the Area Service Assemblies so your group conscience can be heard within the General Service Structure.

REGISTER YOUR GROUP WITH THE LOCAL INTERGROUP OR CENTRAL OFFICE

Even though the local Intergroup or Central Office isn't part of the General Service Structure, it still provides many valuable services to the A.A. Groups and Meetings in the area.  One of its services is to publish a local A.A. meeting list.  To be included in the meeting list, include your A.A. Group Service Number with your Intergroup or Central Office registration form.  Send your Intergroup or Central Office Service Representative to the monthly meetings so your group conscience can be heard at the local level.

USE A BACK TO BASICS MEETING LEADER GUIDE TO CONDUCT THE A.A. BEGINNERS' MEETINGS.

The Back to Basics Meeting Leader Guide is designed to be used to conduct the A.A. Beginners' meetings.  It contains the format for the four one-hour meetings and the handouts for the sessions.  By removing the yellow insert from the cover of the three-ringed binder, the binder becomes completely anonymous.

To make copies of the handouts, remove the masters from the plastic sleeves.  Run the masters through a copy machine and return them to the sleeves.