The ABC Group of Alcoholics Anonymous was created to give newcomers a safe and welcoming place to begin their recovery. The group focuses on giving support to people new or returning to AA and introduces them to the AA program, emphasizing AA’s 3 legacies of Recovery, Unity, and Service.

The group currently hosts a daily Newcomer meeting online with varying formats, provides support between meetings through the ABC Fellowship Chat group, helps people find Sponsors, and shares about other meetings with different formats.

An international group, ABC currently has 60 members from 10 countries and 13 US states with 93% participation in service to the meeting and group service activities (Jun 2025). The Fellowship Chat is active, and many time zones are represented so people can get support between meetings virtually any time. Sponsorship is emphasized here and the group has 4 generations of sponsorship.

To join, simply come to the meeting and stay after, or feel free to connect by emailing abcgroupaa@gmail.com

History

The group was founded January 15, 2024, with 25 members from five countries and from 30 days to 36 years of sobriety. The members are deeply committed to staying sober and helping others to achieve sobriety. The group was formed to uphold that commitment and to ensure home group stability and consistency by practicing and upholding AA’s three legacies.

The group is registered as an online AA group with directories in the US, UK and Europe but has not chosen a geographic district; we are currently (Spring 2025) researching available online districts to see how our group could participate in the service structure. Members are allowed to also join other home groups that do participate. Seventh tradition contributions are from home group members only to cover group expenses; all members and visitors are encouraged to contribute to AA in their local area or the Online Intergroup.

All actions of the group including meetings, speakers, topics, events and support keep in mind:

• The focus on the early newcomer, and
• A commitment to upholding AA 12 traditions.

Steering Committee & Group Conscience

The ABC Group is run by a Steering Committee (SC), which acts as the Informed Group Conscience (GC) to handle group business. The relationship with the larger group is that they invite input and concerns as agenda items at meetings of the GC to be decided upon at the next SC meeting.

Informed means that SC members:
a. Are knowledgeable and pledge to uphold the principles of the Twelve Steps, Twelve Traditions, and Twelve Concepts for World Service,
b. Will always move slowly: will weigh all sides of an issue, consider minority opinions, research AA literature or how other groups handle things, before making decisions.

Steering Committee members are trusted servants, they do not govern. As such, the Steering Committee Members hold positions of significant responsibility to the group and provide needed consistency for the group to function optimally.

Concept IV states that “At all responsible levels we ought to maintain a traditional “Right of Participation,” allowing a voting representation in reasonable proportion to the responsibility that each must discharge.”

How to Join the Home Group

People are encouraged to choose a home group they can attend and participate in regularly to allow people to get to know them, and for them to get to know the other members. Doing service in the group is strongly encouraged, even if only once a week, but it is not required.

To join the ABC Newcomers Home Group, please come to the meeting and get to know us!! Stay after the meeting to talk to us about joining the group.

Being Part of the Home Group

To help members succeed in staying sober, we emphasize AA’s three legacies:
Recovery: Working the 12 Steps with a Sponsor.. We help people find a sponsor.
Unity: Participating in the Fellowship by attending meetings, and using in-between meeting support with phone calls, texts and our ABC Fellowship Chat.
Service: Helping others by checking on Newcomers to the meeting, even if the new member is in early sobriety, teaching them what the old timers did when things were tough: get out of yourself by helping others. Participating in service to the meeting to help keep the doors open and being part of something bigger than you.

We encourage members to review the AA pamphlets
1. The Twelve Traditions Illustrated https://www.aa.org/twelve-traditions-illustrated to learn about the AA 12 Traditions, a vital part of keeping AA safe and healthy for all, and helping learn what it means to be an AA member and help keep this thing going.
2. The AA Group https://www.aa.org/aa-groupwhere-it-all-begins which contains information about being part of an AA Group. (Note that some things may not apply as ABC is an online group and not tied to a physical location.)

Safety

The Group has adopted a Safety Statement as guided by AA to handle issues that come up in the group. For more information about this, come to our meeting and join the home group.

If you are curious about the meeting and want to contact someone, you can email abcgroupaa@gmail.com