Workshops, Meetings, Training Talks, and Conferences
on
“Old-School” Christian Recovery
Programs, Fellowships, Groups, and Meetings
By Dick B., Executive Director
The International Christian Recovery Coalition
© 2012 Anonymous. All
rights reserved
During and after our January 2012 meetings in Southern
California, my son and I came to two important realizations:
1.
A major reason why the original Akron A.A. “Christian
fellowship” was so successful in helping “seemingly-hopeless,”
“medically-incurable,” “real” alcoholics who thoroughly followed the Akron
program was that the fellowship was
“living the Book of Acts.” (See especially Acts 1-6; and, in particular, note
the focus on the word “daily” throughout Acts.)
[For the seven points of the pre-Big Book
Akron program, see the A.A. General Service Conference-approved book, DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, 131. For
14 key practices of Akron’s “Christian fellowship,” see Dick B. and Ken B., The Dick B. Christian Recovery Guide, 3rd
ed., 54-57 (available at www.DickB.com).]
2.
Both meetings listed in the A.A. Meeting Schedule and
Christian Recovery meetings not so listed could benefit greatly by increasing
their emphasis on key ideas in A.A. General Service Conference-approved
literature which show early A.A.—particularly in Akron and Cleveland—as First
Century Christianity in action. Alcoholics
Anonymous (the “Big Book”), The
Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous pamphlet (Item #P-53), and DR. BOB and the Good Oldtimers, for
example, contain many such examples.
Along these lines, my son Ken and I have
just completed a new book we believe will be very helpful to those overseeing,
participating in, or desiring to organize both A.A. Meeting Schedule-listed
meetings and non-listed Christian Recovery meetings. The title is: How to Conduct “Old-School” 12-Step Recovery
Meetings Using Conference-Approved Literature by Dick B. and Ken B.
(available at www.DickB.com). This new
resource provides details about how to organize or “fine-tune” both kinds of
meetings by providing details on:
a.
How to structure meetings which emphasize A.A. General
Service Conference-approved literature;
b.
Possible meeting topics (with many examples provided);
c.
Key sections of A.A. General Service
Conference-approved literature focusing on the roles played by God, His Son
Jesus Christ, and the Bible in early A.A.’s astonishing successes, and why
numerous observers stated that early A.A. was like First Century Christianity;
d.
The highly-successful, seven-point, early Akron
program;
e.
16 practices of the early Akron “Christian fellowship”;
f.
Christian efforts that preceded and influenced early
A.A. and which were successful in helping alcoholics, addicts, and others with
life-controlling problems; e.g., the Young Men’s Christian Association, the
Salvation Army, Christian evangelists (such as Dwight L. Moody, Henry
Moorhouse, Henry M. Moore, and Allen Folger), rescue missions (such as Calvary
Mission in New York, where both Ebby Thacher and Bill W. accepted Jesus Christ
as their Lord and Savior), and A First Century Christian Fellowship (also known
as The Oxford Group, of which Rev. Sam Shoemaker was a chief American leader).
We have also begun producing a
number of videos based on the contents of the new book that will soon be
available as part of a new class in a password-protected section of the www.ChristianRecoveryRadio.com
Web site (along with many free Dick B. radio presentations, audio talks, and
other videos).
In order to share with International Christian Recovery
Coalition “Participants” in other parts of the United States and in other
countries, we will be holding a number of meetings in Oahu, Hawaii (March
22-25), Northern California (March 29-31), and Southern California (May 14-21),
with the highlight’s being “The First 2012 North American Conference of the
International Christian Recovery Coalition” at the new His Place Church
facility in Westminster, California, Friday through Saturday, May 18-19, 2012. Conference
details are available here: http://www.dickb.com/conferences/May2012_NorthAmericanConference.shtml.
Hope to see you there!
In addition to sharing what we have been learning along the
lines discussed above during our upcoming meetings in March and May, we plan on
focusing a good deal of our efforts on learning about what various Christian
Recovery leaders and workers in the areas we will be visiting have been doing.
In particular,
What we would like to
learn:
·
Your thoughts about how to present (with your
own program and format)—in your training, meetings, talks, and materials—“old-school,”
early A.A. “Christian fellowship” principles and practices.
·
Your suggestions about making this subject a
plan for a group, a weekly meeting, workshops, training classes, fellowships,
12 Step programs, and talks.
·
Your comments on integrating your program into a
mold that fits present-day 12 Step programs and ideas, that presents the “old-school”
A.A. principles and practices, and captures the importance of daily activities
patterned after those of First Century Christians in the Book of Acts and the “old-school”
“Christian-fellowship” in Akron.
·
Special programs, formats, needs, problems, and questions
you may have.
·
Your own present activities and desires, and how
to integrate them with this subject
·
Whether you agree as to the value of a special
group which offers or encourages daily fellowship among like-minded
believers—including such activities as a weekly training meeting, a weekly
Bible study, one or more 12 Step meetings, another’s Christian fellowship
meeting, meals and feeds and coffee gatherings, outreach meetings, recreational
events, and movies or films.
What we would also like
to share with you:
·
What other Christian recovery programs,
meetings, fellowships, and groups are doing around the world.
·
What we suggest about how to organize, format,
and conduct an “old-school” A.A. Christian-oriented recovery fellowship and
program
·
The options, contacts, resources, programs, and
outlines presently available.
·
How you can, if you wish, conduct “old-school”
meetings in such a way as to use a Conference-approved foundation, a procedure
consistent with the Traditions, an autonomous status, and advance solid,
truthful, accurate, comprehensive knowledge of the origins, history, founding, “old-school”
Akron A.A. “Christian fellowship,” its successes, and their applicability to
recovery today.
Gloria
Deo
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