New resource helps youth observe the season of Lent

‘Pray, Fast, Love,’ available as a free download in English and Spanish

by Emily Enders Odom | Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE – Just as youth workers, educators, pastors and other church leaders who work with youth have started to ask themselves how they might introduce young people to a more informed and active observance of the season of Lent—which begins on Ash Wednesday, March 1—Ministries with Youth has a new resource at the ready.

Lent: Pray, Fast, Love, written by Brittany Harrold Porch, director of Mission and Education at Broad Street Presbyterian Church, Columbus Ohio, is the latest Quicksheet published by the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Ministries with Youth, the national ministry office that serves youth pastors and other staff members who are nurturing young Presbyterians.

Quicksheets are simple, singular, ideas and articles focused on the essentials of youth ministry written by veteran educators, youth workers and ministry professionals. All of the Quicksheets—including the newest one for Lent—are available at no cost on the Ministries with Youth website.

Pray, Fast, Love, which is available in both English and Spanish, includes very practical ideas for helping youth explore the season of Lent, the theological impact of “taking on” something in order to more deeply encounter God, and to understand the connections between Jesus’ life and death and the life and mission of today’s disciples. Suggestions include a modern take on the “Stations of the Cross,” a “thing” fast—defined in the resource as “letting go of our material wealth to better understand our own excess”—as well as more traditional practices such as a daily devotion.

“I love the idea of the ‘thing’ fast and the idea of moving around a community to explore the ‘stations’ of the cross,” says Gina Yeager-Buckley, associate for the Presbyterian Mission Agency’s Ministries with Youth.  I think these are spiritual practices that will connect deeply with today’s young people.”

—-

Click here to download Quicksheet #60, Lent: Pray, Fast, Love.

Dele clic aquí para descargar Quicksheet #60, La Cuaresma: Oración, Ayuno, Amor.