Bill W. could see AA's world- changing potential

There are those who predict that Alcoholics Anonymous may well become a new spearhead for a spiritual awakening throughout the world. When our friends say these things, they are both generous and sincere. But we of AA must reflect that such a tribute and such a prophecy could well prove to be a heady drink for most of us—that is, if we really came to believe this to be the real purpose of AA, and if we commenced to behave accordingly. Our society, therefore, will prudently cleave to its single purpose: the carrying of the message to the alcoholic who still suffers. Let us resist the proud assumption that since God has enabled us to do well in one area, we are destined to be a channel of saving grace for everybody.[i]

[i] Alcoholics Anonymous Comes of Age pg. 232

Lois recalls Bill's hope:

     I believe, as Bill did, that if he could find a way to give others what he had, he would begin something that would change the world Bill and I always believed that, as more and more people embrace our way of life and reach out in love to others, the principles on which our fellowship is based, will one day save our troubled world.[i]

[i] Mel B. New Wine: The Spiritual Roots of the Twelve Step Movement, Hazelton, 1991, p.167.

    I want all to feel they have a share as they partake of the priceless boon which has come to them and to me through the Oxford Group They can best perpetuate this gift by carrying forward a philosophy that is adequate for a world crisis and that will, at last, bring the nations to the long-looked-for Golden Age ushered in by the greatest revolution of all time whereby the Cross of Christ shall transform the world. [i]

[i] Garth Lean, On the Tail of a Comet p. 531.

The vision had started with

Frank Buchman