3-7-11 Meeting Format
3-7-11 Meeting
Good evening and welcome to the open Sunday Steps 3, 7 & 11 meeting of the 562 Group of Alcoholics Anonymous. My name is _______________ and I am an alcoholic. We ask that, when we open the meeting for sharing, each member limit his or her share to 3 - 4 minutes in order to give others an opportunity to share.
The Meeting Format:
In this meeting, speakers describe in their own language, and from their own point of view, how they established and maintain a relationship with God as manifested in Steps 3, 7 and 11.
Introductions:
Is anyone attending their very first AA meeting? If so, may we have your first name so that we may welcome you.
Is anyone attending this meeting for the first time?
We also would like to become acquainted with Newcomers at this meeting. May we see the hands of new friends with less than 90 days of sobriety?
We suggest that Newcomers get a Temporary Sponsor – Men with Men and Women with Women. If you have more than 1 year of continuous sobriety and are willing to be a Temporary Sponsor, please raise your hand for a moment. To request an electronic copy of the temporary sponsor list or add your name and number to the list, please visit our website at 562group.org
Are the any announcements for the good of AA?
Are there any AA Anniversaries?
Is anyone counting days that they would like recognized?
The 7th Tradition:
In keeping with our 7th Tradition, AA has no dues or fees and must remain self-supporting. Expenses include, but are not limited to, rent and sanitation for our meeting space, online fees and the support of AA's primary purpose to carry the message to the next alcoholic. Please contribute to the basket or you can contribute via Venmo to @Group-Treasurer or scan the QR code
The AA Preamble:
Alcoholics Anonymous is a fellowship of people who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from alcoholism. The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. There are no dues or fees for AA membership. We are self-supporting through our own contributions. AA is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any causes. Our primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics to achieve sobriety.
Ask for a moment of silence for the still suffering alcoholics, both inside and outside the rooms, followed by the Serenity Prayer.
I have asked ____________ to read How It Works from Chapter 5 of the Big Book.
How It Works
Rarely have we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path. Those who do not recover are people who cannot or will not completely give themselves to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way. They are naturally incapable of grasping and developing a manner of living which demands rigorous honesty. Their chances are less than average. There are those, too, who suffer from grave emotional and mental disorders, but many of them do recover if they have the capacity to be honest. Our stories disclose in a general way what we used to be like, what happened, and what we are like now. If you have decided you want what we have and are willing to go to any length to get it—then you are ready to take certain steps.
At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg of you to be fearless and thorough from the very start. Some of us have tried to hold on to our old ideas and the result was nil until we let go absolutely.
Remember that we deal with alcohol—cunning, baffling, powerful! Without help it is too much for us. But there is One who has all power—that One is God. May you find Him now! Half measures availed us nothing. We stood at the turning point. We asked His protection and care with complete abandon. Here are the steps we took, which are suggested as a program of recovery:
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Many of us exclaimed, “What an order! I can’t go through with it.’’ Do not be discouraged. No one among us has been able to maintain anything like perfect adherence to these principles. We are not saints. The point is, that we are willing to grow along spiritual lines. The principles we have set down are guides to progress. We claim spiritual progress rather than spiritual perfection.
Our description of the alcoholic, the chapter to the agnostic, and our personal adventures before and after make clear three pertinent ideas:
(a) That we were alcoholic and could not manage our own lives.
(b) That probably no human power could have relieved our alcoholism.
(c) That God could and would if He were sought.
Reprinted from the book Alcoholics Anonymous ® Copyright © 1939, 1955, 1976, 2001 by A.A. World Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
Personal Reflection:
Before we begin the speaker discussion, please take a moment of silence for personal reflection on the 3rd, 7th and 11th Step Prayers (about 1 minute). I have asked ___________ to read Steps 3 and 7.
SPEAKER’S STORY: Speaker to share until approximately 6:30 PM. When finished, please continue immediately with sharing from the fellowship.
AFTER SHARING before Closing: I have asked _____________ to read the 11th Step Prayer and the St. Francis Prayer.
Close the meeting: We believe the principles of anonymity has an immense spiritual significance, so remember who you see here, what you hear here, when you leave here, let it stay here. We have a nice way of closing with the Lord’s Prayer.
