LiveLent – Lent Resources

Lent and Children and Young People

Many children and young people don’t really understand the richness of Lent as a preparation for Easter, having only experienced it as a time when their grown ups try to give up things like alcohol or chocolate.

This year the #Livelent material helps them to think about undertaking 40 challenges that really tap into their passion for looking after God’s creation.

The key thing is that they see this as an opportunity to learn about the positive discipline of a relationship with God rather than something that makes them feel bad or a failure.

The 40 challenges include a range of activities designed to facilitate both reflection and action. They should be achievable in most households but it is worth considering what the church can do to make some of the activities more achievable for families. For instance you could provide pots and seeds in Land and Plants week, or ask someone with a good natured dog to visit one of your children’s groups in Week Five.

Using the LiveLent resources

The 40 day challenge books are available to buy from Church House Publishing. You could consider gifting copies to families in your church, or partnering with your local school to give copies away there. There is also a free app available from 20th February which contain both the adults’ and children’s material (and it’s free) – visit www.churchofengland.org/livelent for more details.

The 40 challenges include a range of activities designed to facilitate both reflection and action. They should be achievable in most households but it is worth considering what the church can do to make some of the activities more achievable for families and schools. For instance you could provide pots and seeds in Land and Plants week, or ask someone with a good natured dog to visit one of your children’s groups in Week Five. Be creative, there are lots of ways you can encourage members of the congregation who are not usually involved with children’s work to support your mission and ministry with the skills and passions that they have in gardening and things like that.

There are All Age Worship outlines to accompany the booklets below. The ideas in these could also be used in a variety of contexts including Messy Church.