In just a few short weeks, congregations around the world will be marking their foreheads with ashes, entering the 40-day season of Lent.
This period of the church calendar holds a palpable somberness, as we reflect on Christ’s redemptive work on the cross and the sins that put Him there.
And while it may feel like a straightforward prescription for self-sacrifice, preaching for Lent is actually, in the words of Pastor Mark Anderson, “a minefield.”
“It seems to be set up for “What I have to do,” for pastors to start giving people examples of Christian living, but Lent is all about what God has done,” he said.
It’s this point that Pastor Anderson aims to drive home in his new Lent Planning Guide, the next installment of his project to create guides for each season of the church year. (He hopes to have guides for Easter and Pentecost ready soon as well — stay tuned.)
He emphasizes that Lent is about drawing us into that great story of the amazing things that were accomplished for our salvation. Certainly our problems were the cause of Jesus’ death, but he says his aim is to make that point in a more hopeful way.
“I try to avoid negative language in the guides because scripturally, this is good news. However bad things are, we have good news. I don’t approach it any differently from any other season because it’s always a season for the Gospel to be proclaimed. I focus on why Jesus came, which is the catastrophe of sin and our complete inability to get ourselves out of our predicament as mortals,” he said.
However bad things are, we have good news.
The guide offers the following free resources to help pastors preach the Gospel with clarity:
- Week-by-week reflections focused on baptism, repentance, grace, and more.
- Hymn suggestions that tie into each week’s theme.
- Greek word studies that deepen the understanding of key theological concepts.
- Practical sermon and teaching ideas to help bring the message of Lent to life.
“Rather than saying, roll up your sleeves, get going, be your best selves, it’s quite the contrary. Keep it sober, realistic, and focus on our need for a Savior and the fact that He has come. Christ has come, new creation has arrived, the freedom of the Gospel is here.”
Another way he emphasizes the importance of focusing on the Gospel is by highlighting the folly of using illustrations.
“The danger, especially of starting a sermon with an illustration, is you are unconsciously telling the congregation, “I know this has to be made relevant to you,” and that’s the wrong move right off the bat. The word of God is always relevant.”
As he writes in the introduction of the guide (page 9):
“While illustrations can inform or entertain, only the Word transforms. The sermon isn’t meant to give people something to “take away”—a task to complete or a principle to apply. Christ has already given everything in His Word: the living promise of forgiveness, grace, and new life. This promise comes not because we feel it or even understand it, but because God is faithful in bestowing it.”
In a season where the message can often feel heavy, pastors may be tempted to use illustrations or stories to soften their sermons, to entertain, or to be liked, but Pastor Anderson cautions that this diminishes the authority of ministry and has no relevance to the word of God.
“This is the key thing — you have to take people more seriously than they take themselves. They won’t thank you for it sometimes, because it’s not friendship, it’s something else. You have to tell them truths they don’t want to hear, and you can’t be a friend when that task is on you,” he said.
How to use the Lent Planning Guide
As we mentioned above, the guide offers a variety of free resources, including reflections, discussion questions, hymn suggestions, and even complete sermons.
“These are tools for people to use as they will. I like to call them seeds to nourish creative ideas,” said Pastor Anderson.
On that note, people are welcome to use the content verbatim or simply as a starting point for their own writing or conversations.
Throughout it all, however, you can count on a consistent and sound theological message.
“Everything in the guide is predicated on the theology of the cross, which wants to keep everything moving in the direction of God’s sufficient grace, justification by faith, and avoiding any sense that this is all about what we contribute and what we do,” Pastor Anderson said.
We are grateful to Pastor Anderson for developing this in-depth and completely FREE resource. The Lent Planning Guide is available now — perfect for pastors, Bible studies, and anyone looking to prepare thoughtfully for this season.
Did you miss this?
A couple months ago, we highlighted Pastor Anderson’s Advent Planning Guide here on the blog. If you missed out on that this time around, simply bookmark it for Advent 2025. That resource, just like the Lent Planning Guide, is written to stand the test of time and be useful for years to come.
