EthicsDaily.com has available a Lenten Bible study to which Baptists from North America, Latin America and Europe contributed lessons.
Student and leader guides for the eight-week study, “Eyeing Easter, Walking through Lent,” may be ordered here.
Sample student lessons and leader guides are available for review.
The undated, online unit was produced in partnership with the Baptist World Alliance.
Lent begins March 5 and ends April 17.
Lent “begins with Ash Wednesday, the day that declares death is certain. And, it ends with Easter, the day that begs to differ,” wrote Canadian Carla Nelson, a lesson contributor.
“In our reaction to the evils of the medieval church, we Baptists threw out some customs and traditions that for centuries were an encouragement to the church to practice holy living, including fasting and the observance of Lent,” wrote Denton Lotz, former BWA general secretary in the unit foreword. “In rejecting such practices, we have sometimes failed to hear their original call for repentance and change of heart.”
“The purpose of these Lenten lessons is to cause us to reflect and act upon the call of Christ to serve the world in which we live,” Lotz continued. “The 40 days of Lent should lead us to repent where we have failed God and our neighbors and challenge us to unite as a community of believers to be witnesses of God’s kingdom.”
The weekly studies challenge Baptists to reflect on God’s history of deliverance, to repent from self-centered and self-sufficient living, to reaffirm their dependence upon God and to recommit to walking the life of faith.
Lesson writers include:
â— Martin Accad, director of the Institute of Middle East Studies at Arab Baptist Theological Seminary in Beirut
â— Daniel Carro, professor of divinity, John Leland Center, and first vice president of the BWA, and Dina Carro
â— Randy Hyde, pastor, Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark.
â— Emmanuel McCall, a former vice president, BWA
â— Paul Montacute, retired director, Baptist World Aid
â— Carla Nelson, Canadian Baptist leader
â— Parush Parushev, professor, International Baptist Theological Seminary, Prague, Czech Republic
â— Craig Sherouse, pastor, Second Baptist Church in Richmond, Va.
