What Are You Giving Up for Lent?

What are you giving up for Lent?

Did you hear this growing up? Not me. My childhood was spent in a non-liturgical church, so when I heard the word “lent,” I immediately thought about something coming off my clothes. I had no idea about a Christian calendar. But maybe you did grow up in a liturgical setting, and for you Lent invokes ideas of giving up something fun, like chocolate.

I know a lot of people who give up coffee for Lent, but that’s just crazy-talk.

As I’ve grown, I’ve come to appreciate the liturgical calendar as a way for God to speak to his people all over the world, through all kinds of Christian traditions, in similar ways at the same time of year. Today’s generation of young people in particular seem to resonate with the idea that millions of believers around the globe are all learning and doing similar practices at the same times of the year. Lent is one of those global communal activities.

If you’re not familiar with Lent, it’s the 40-day period leading up to Easter when Christians practice a sacrifice of some kind, and spend extra time in prayer and worship. It culminates in Passion or Holy Week observances, and a celebration of Christ’s Resurrection on Easter morning. The sacrifice is usually some sort of fast or abstention from a particular thing, like coffee or chocolate or meat on Fridays.

So what are you giving up for Lent?

I’d like to invite you into a Lenten focus of prayer for TEAM’s missionaries around the globe. They often serve in incredible hardships and do difficult ministry. As I write this, I just learned that some of our TEAM family members in Chad are being evacuated due to Boko Haram incursions.

Would you be willing to “give up” 15 minutes of your day to pray for TEAM’s missionaries and staff? We would like to send you a prayer resource to guide you in 40 days of prayer for TEAM. You’ll be praying for theological education in Southern Africa, for church-planting in post-Christian Europe, for acts of service that lead to sharing the gospel in predominately Muslim communities and so much more. Can we send you this prayer resource today? Just click here to request your free prayer guide.

I look forward to joining you in this work of prayer beginning on February 18. Thank you for your willingness to set aside 15 minutes of your day to lift up our missionaries around the globe. It’s a sacrifice that will reap great rewards.