The Lent and Easter stories can become so familiar that they become rote. Yet, Lent can be a time of tremendous spiritual growth and a deepening commitment to live as disciples of Jesus Christ. Now is a great time to introduce people to the practice of spiritual disciplines (i.e. study, prayer, worship, fasting) and the content here will help with that but you'll also want to supplement with some hand's on mission work in your community. 

Encouraging each other to participate fully in spiritual disciplines will help us see the stories with fresh eyes.

The original idea for this content was to plan prayer stations to use in worship during Lent to help people understand what Lent celebrates using scripture, illustrations, readings, and other props. Not everyone uses prayer stations so we've developed this in a way that you can pick and choose what will work in your setting.

What is available for free as download content are the stations which we refer to as displays. Your space will dictate how you use what we've provided and allows for your own creativity and ideas. Tailor the displays to your church setting, needs, and your audience.

Ways to use these resources:

• plan to set up each display in your worship space, fellowship hall, classroom, hallway or gathering space, wherever you have room
• change the displays each week or if you have room set leave them set up until after Easter 

Free resources to download:

• Lent Display Chart (scripture links, planogram item inventory, kind of an at a glance)
• 7 Display Planograms (the displays photographed with notes, thanks Peggy Jennings!)
• 14 Illustrations (four color photos)
• 17 Bible Verse Signage (vertical format used on the display table)
• 17 Bible Verses for Projection (jpgs in horizontal format, could be used in worhship)
• 7 Readings "Lent: A Yearly Reminder of the Daily Call to Come Home" (thanks Kasey Hitt!)
• 7 Audios by Kasey Hitt (thanks Russ Hitt for the music!)
• CEB Study Bible scripture and study notes for the readings (free download is 45 pages)
• 7 Table Identification Signs (on display table)

Ideas to get you started:

1. invite people to help plan the displays
2. download the free resources to review
3. select the scriptures and pictures appropriate to your setting
4. decide where the displays will be set up [note: the table on the planogram is a 6 foot round]
5. decide on a schedule (will all of the displays be set up at once or will you change them weekly)
6. be creative, collect additional props for the displays (other religious art and tangible symbols that are meaningful to your people)
7. promote, communicate, and invite people to come visit the display
8. plan a date now to discuss ways to improve on the experience for next year

Finally...

This is an introduction to Lent only, it's not perfect.