7 Things for Pastors and Leaders to Give Up for Lent

If you’re a pastor or leader and your congregation celebrates Lent, here are a few ideas for things you can give up for the Lenten season.

Why Do People Give Up Things for Lent?

Lent typically begins on Ash Wednesday and ends 40 days later. Some trace the origin back to the early church when new believers went through a period of fasting before their baptism. It is thought that the rest of the church began observing this season as well as a sign of solidarity with these new believers.

It is also a way to imitate the sacrifice of Christ. As Christians give up things for Lent, they are connecting with Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. In Luke 9:23, we read, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Those who participate in Lent believe that denying ourselves of certain pleasures is a way to practice what Jesus was saying in Luke 9:23.

Doing this is a way to identify with the suffering of Jesus and to prepare our hearts to receive the blessing of Easter. We endure a period of darkness so that the light of the Resurrection dawns more brightly.

Should Pastors and Leaders Participate in Lent?

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “It’ is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.” This is a simple principle of leadership. If a leader is going to ask others to give up and sacrifice things for Lent, then they ought to do the same thing.

In fact, it could be argued that the very mark of being a pastor and leader is being the first to “give up” and to sacrifice for others. Listen to what the apostle Peter says to his fellow shepherds:

To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

Notice that Peter, in the very beginning, identifies himself with the suffering of Christ. He is sharing in the glory of suffering. And he calls upon his fellow shepherds to be an example to the flock. We cannot be an example of sacrifice if we are not ourselves sacrificing for the cause of Christ.

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7 Things for Pastors and Leaders to Give Up During Lent

If you decide to participate in Lent, here are a few things that pastors and leaders might give up during Lent. There are obvious things that many people give up during Lent. Some give up sweets or other pleasures.

I always find it a little humorous when people decide to give up something like “complaining” or “gossip” for Lent. Shouldn’t that be something that we “give up” throughout the year and not just during this season? Are we able to start complaining and gossiping once Easter is upon us? But I realize that folks do this because it’s a particular season to focus and meditate upon a particular discipline or grace they would like to acquire.

For pastors, there might be some unique things that we could do during the Lenten seasons. There are idols for every human. But I think pastors and leaders can be particularly prone to certain forms of idolatry. So, I’ve selected a few things which might expose our hearts and help us to be more disciplined.

1. Certain Comfort Foods. There are plenty of jokes about overweight pastors. And let’s be honest, gluttony can be something pastors struggle with. Though it is easy to underestimate the physical toll that pastoring has upon a person, it is not the type of job, like moving logs all day, where you’re going to end up jacked after a day of work.

Pastoring also comes with a great deal of anxiety. And for some people, when they become anxious, they eat. Perhaps discover the foods you run to for comfort and consider giving those up and finding this a time to run to Christ instead.

2. Fake Energy. Just like running to food for comfort so also we can run to things like caffeine or energy drinks to sustain our busy schedules. Rather than taking a Sabbath and having healthy rhythms, we often prop ourselves up with fake energy sources and wonder why we crash physically and emotionally. In this season, consider giving up those sources of fake energy and learn to get our vitality from its only true source.

3. Social Media/Doomscrolling. It might be somewhat difficult to be entirely off social media during this season. But is it really? What would happen if you decided to disconnect from your favorite social media accounts during this season? What would it look like if you spent the Lenten season in prayer and Scripture reading instead of doom-scrolling on social media?

You know what doom-scrolling is, right? It’s when you mindlessly scroll through all of the negativity in social media. I’m convinced that we can subtly be more influenced by these sources and think we’re “preaching against sin” and getting our inspiration from the Holy Spirit, but in reality, we’re just venting about the things that bothered us through the week as we doom-scrolled social media. What might it look like to give this up?

4. Your Phone. This one probably feels impossible. How will your people get in touch with you? Will you not be available for others? What about emergencies? In reality, you and I would survive 40 days without our phones. (This is probably one of those places where I’m breaking the Eleanor Roosevelt rule. I’m not sure I could pull this off). People did lots of ministry for lots of years without having a cell phone. Can we still do that today? We might be surprised at how innovative we became.

5. The News. This is similar to doom-scrolling, but what would happen if you completely disconnected from the news cycle? Would you find yourself becoming less panicked about the future of our world? Would you find yourself nicer to those who might act or think differently than you?

Our 24/7 news cycle isn’t healthy. We develop a fear of missing out and we are constantly plugged into the things of the world. It tricks us into calling things significant and important when really it’s a piece of news that will likely be discarded in a week as we pick up the next point of outrage. Step off the treadmill for 40 days and see what happens.

6. Entertainment. After a hard day at the office, I like to go home and recharge in front of the television watching a favorite show. At least, that is what I tell myself I’m doing. In reality, I’m often amusing myself to death. If we gave up sources of entertainment for 40 days, we might discover just how dependent we are upon these sources for our “joy.” We might discover that we’ve become frivolous and weightless. This might expose all the ways we “check out” when we get home.

7. Preaching. Okay, I know this one sounds crazy. But I agree with John Newton that the last idol to die is the idol of usefulness. Newton himself, though blind and unable to string together a coherent thought, refused to leave the pulpit. He said that while the old African blasphemer still had words on his tongue he’d preach. But at this point, it wasn’t faithfulness, it was idolatry. He wasn’t feeding his people anymore. He was only feeding his need to feel useful.

What would it expose in our hearts if we stepped away from preaching for a month? And even during such an important time as holy week. Might we discover how much we are dependent upon the pulpit for our identity? Would it expose how little we’ve invested in others and their ability to take our place? I’m not sure if your church would allow you to be out of the pulpit during the whole Lenten season. But I bet if you could, it would be quite the experiment.

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