A sample announcement ‘from the front’
Please adapt it. We suggest you give people the flyer on the downloads page while you are talking.
‘Hi everyone. We’re thinking of introducing a 10-15 minutes optional extra that we hope you will enjoy.
We’ve asked a few of you whether this would be a good idea and they thought some of you might value it. So we’re going to give it a try.
We’re calling it Soulspace, and it’s for anyone who wants a moment of stillness in the stress of life, who wants time to contemplate the bigger questions of life, or who wants space to gather their thoughts and feelings and start to make sense of them.
It’s also an opportunity to talk about these things if you would like to.
We hope that it will be refreshing and, in a manner of speaking, good for the soul. Hence the name – Soulspace.
It is entirely optional, so please don’t feel any obligation to join in. But if you want to try it out, we’ll meet in a quiet space for about 10 minutes. During that time:
- I will be leading it all, so you won’t have to say anything if you don’t want. You can simply relax.
- We’ll start by spending a few minutes listening to some music to help us focus.
- Next there’ll be a short reading from a spiritual text to inspire or comfort us [or there will be a story about Jesus, who is known as one the world’s greatest spiritual teachers].
- Sometimes we may use photos or a poem to help us think about things.
- We’ll then have a period of headspace for you to think about a person or situation. If you’d like to, there’ll be time to pray about this to God, as you understand God.
- And then we’ll finish off with a short poem or prayer.
You are all welcome, whatever your beliefs, whether you have a faith background or not. But I know this might not be for everyone, so please don’t feel you have to come.
If you like the sound of this spiritual oasis, we shall meet at [time and date], in [place].’
Supporting files on the downloads page.