Your Pastor Handed You a Pamphlet

Someone who leads the place you still sometimes go put a pamphlet in your hand and waited. Pastor, priest, imam, rabbi, or whatever name you use for them, the feeling is the same. You were sent. You are already writing the report you think you owe the next time you see their face.

You can stop writing it. The paper is Faith Leaders Ask About A.A., pamphlet P-25. It is an introduction for clergy who are unfamiliar with the Fellowship, and further discussion for people who want a greater understanding. It aims at their unfamiliarity. You are the one who drinks, or the one who is afraid you do. Their study guide is not your sentence.

The pamphlet was written toward them

Clergy ask questions because A.A. is outside the work they were trained to do. P-25 exists so those questions have an introduction, and so people who want more than an introduction can keep reading. That is a kindness to a busy faith leader. It is not a referral form with your name at the top.

You do not owe them a report of the meeting, and you do not owe them proof that you went, unless you decide you want to say so. Membership is voluntary. The only requirement is a desire to stop drinking. A person in a collar, or a person with a title you respect, cannot add a second requirement called coming back and explaining yourself.

P-25 introduces A.A. to clergy. It is not your congregation's rulebook. What A.A. does say about you is smaller. You are welcome regardless of religion, and also regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, income, or profession. There are no dues or fees. You can keep your faith, question it, or sit there unsure. The meeting does not collect a creed.

Sent is not the same as signed up

Meetings welcome people who come because a court sent them, or because treatment sent them. Even then, membership stays voluntary. A faith leader handing you P-25 is not a court, and it is not a treatment center. It is a person who hopes you will look. Hope is not enrollment. You can look. You can go once. You can decide the hour is not for you and still have been welcome to try.

If they ask for proof you attended, know the limit. There is no set procedure for proof of attendance. Each group decides whether it will acknowledge anything. Some groups do, with the person's consent, and the referred person is the one who returns the proof. That paperwork is not part of A.A.'s own procedure. A referral phone line cannot sign a slip. You can also go and never ask for a signature. Listening does not require a form to take back to anyone.

You need not join a prayer. A chair may open the meeting with the Preamble. You can hear it without joining anyone's church, and without quoting it back on Sunday. Introducing yourself is not mandatory. Afterward, talk is optional. If the only person you are afraid of is the one who gave you the pamphlet, you are allowed to keep the hour to yourself.

Pick a room that is not their classroom

Meetings are held in all sorts of rooms, including churches, and also offices, treatment centers, community centers, clubhouses, and outdoors. A meeting in a church building is still an A.A. meeting. Cooperation is not affiliation. The congregation does not become A.A. because the group borrows space, and A.A. does not become that congregation's class.

If walking into the building where they preach feels impossible, do not do it. Online meetings can be video on, video off, or a dial-in. Phone meetings exist for the same reason a back-row chair exists. aa.org is not a meeting finder. Start with the meetings search and confirm the time, because those listings are not verified.

Closed meetings are for members, or for people with a drinking problem and a desire to stop drinking. Open meetings are for anyone interested, and nonalcoholics may attend as observers. If your faith leader wants to sit in and observe, that is an open-meeting question, and it is still your choice whether you go to that particular hour. You can choose a different night.

If you are too sick to perform gratitude

Call 911 if you are sick, confused, or cannot breathe. Call or text 988 if you are in a mental health crisis. NIAAA says alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening when a person who drinks heavily over time stops suddenly. P-25 cannot manage that, and neither can a well-meant assignment from someone who loves you. NIDA says mutual-help groups such as A.A. are peer-led, not led by healthcare professionals, and not a substitute for treatment. The hour is peer support, not detox. FindTreatment.gov lists programs. SAMHSA's National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), is free, confidential, and available 24/7 in English and Spanish.

Listen, and leave the report unwritten

Tonight, find a meeting that does not feel like walking back into their office. Confirm it. Go and listen. You can want to stop drinking without promising a testimony. You can keep your religion in the room with you, quietly. The pamphlet can go back on their shelf. You do not have to become their success story to take a chair.

Call (800) 653-9376 if you need treatment; the call is free to you, treatment providers pay for the referral, the line is not an intergroup, and the line is not A.A., and it is not SMART Recovery.

Additional Resources

Sources cited on this page:

• A.A. World Services: 2025 Literature Catalog
• A.A.: The Twelve Traditions
• A.A.: What to Expect at an A.A. Meeting
• A.A.: Need help with a drinking problem?
• A.A.: Find A.A. near you
• NIDA: Treatment, including mutual-help groups
• NIAAA Core Resource: Alcohol Use Disorder, From Risk to Diagnosis to Recovery
• SAMHSA National Helpline
• SAMHSA FindTreatment.gov
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
• SmarterRecovery meetings page (public meeting search; listings are not verified)
• SmarterRecovery about page (calling is free to the caller)

Common Questions