What is the Role of Sponsorship?

[MajestyJo]

Is there any one best way of sponsoring a newcomer?

The answer is no. All members are free to approach sponsorship as their own individual experiences and personalities may suggest. Some sponsors adopt a more or less brusque, "Take it or leave it" approach in dealing with newcomers. Others exhibit extreme patience and great personal interest in the people they sponsor. Still others are somewhat casual, con- tent to let the new person take the initiative in asking questions or seeking help in special situations.

Each approach is sometimes successful and sometimes fads. The sponsor has to decide which to try in a particular case. The experienced sponsor recognizes the importance of flexibility in working with newcomers, does not rely on a single approach, and may try a number of different approaches with the same person.

How can a sponsor explain the A.A. program?

Sponsors will want to explain A.A. in the manner that each finds most natural and most likely to be clear to the newcomer at hand.

Experience shows that the newcomer usually cannot absorb the entire A.A. program in the first few months. Certainly, "little steps for tiny feet" applies here.

Many sponsors make sure to tell the new arrival that A.A. has one primary purpose - to help them both keep away from that first drink. They remind the newcomer that the First Step - recognizing that one has a problem - is a key part of recovery.

These sponsors remind the newcomer that A.A. offers a practical program, and that it has already helped more than a million men and women. They suggest the need for open-mindedness in facing alcoholism as a personal problem, and they underscore the fact that it is up to the newcomer alone to decide whether he or she is an alcoholic and whether A.A. can help.

Nearly all members who work with newcomer look upon the A.A. program in terms of their own experience. They tell the new person that no one speaks for A.A. and that every member is perfectly free to arrive at an individual understanding of the program.

Some sponsors talks about the program in a more spiritual way than others do. But nearly all call attention to the source of strength to be found in "a Power greater than ourselves." Again, the sponsor points out, it is up to the newcomer to determine what that A.A. phrase means. It expresses an idea that people of many faiths - or of no particular faith - can and do accept with complete harmony.

to be continued...