LENT:
40 DAYS OF PRAYING & FASTING
Purpose
This year, we are encouraging everyone to participate in the 40 Days of Lent; which include devotionals as well as stepping out in the community. Our theme this year is Prayer and Power. This year, Lent begins Wednesday, March 2nd leading up to our Good Friday Service on April 15th.
Over the course of the 40 days, our goal is to promote spiritual growth, both internally as well as externally. To do this, we will be incorporating two parts: daily devotionals and service opportunities. Daily devotionals are meant to promote and encourage individual spiritual growth while service opportunities are meant to grow us in an external way. For example, we grow by stepping out of our comfort zone and bless others. Therefore, we encourage everyone to participate in both parts.
How to Participate
Part 1
Daily devotionals will be sent out via email daily with a link to the video on our YouTube page. If you are already on our email list, you do not need to do anything else. If you are not on our email list, please email the Church Office at office@dupagevineyard.org to get signed up. Please include your name and specify that you would like to receive daily devotionals for Lent. You can also subscribe to our youtube channel to get notifications when our daily devotionals are posted. To subscribe, visit our youtube channel by clicking HERE, then click the "subscribe" button. To get notifications, click the bell icon next to the subscribe button. This will send you notification when the devotionals are posted.
In addition, we encourage you to join with 1 or 2 others as prayer partners. Prayer partners are meant to encourage each other and keep each other accountable. However, this does not mean beating each other down for not completing devotionals. What we mean is checking in to see how the other is doing, praying for each other, and encouraging each other to keep going.
Part 2
Service opportunities will be included at the end of each daily devotional. However, we understand that these ideas may not always possible or comfortable for everyone. Therefore, we have included some ideas below that can help guide you in this. We highly encourage you to try to do this once a week if possible. This does not have to be something big. It can be something as simple as complimenting a stranger.
Additionally, we would love to hear about what God is doing in this season. If you would like to share your experience, there is information below on how to share via Facebook or email.
Testimonies
As we enter into this season, we will be sharing testimonies. If you would like us to share your testimony or just want to let us know what God has been doing in this season, please read the section below titled "Share Your Experience" for instructions on how to do this.
Share Your Experience
Let us know how things are going. We would love to hear about any testimonies or stories that you have over these 40 days. There are several ways to share....
Options 1: Email your story (format can be a video or writing) to the Church Office at office@dupagevineyard.org. Make sure to include your name.
Option 2: Share on Facebook. If you would like to share your story on Facebook, please include #lentvcd in the comment section so that we are able to see your story.
Service Opportunity Ideas
If you are having difficulty coming up with ideas of service opportunities, feel free to use some of the ideas below. However, please note that you are not limited to these ideas. Our goal is to step out and bless others with acts of kindness and encouragement. This may look different for each person depending on your comfort level and where you are in life. Feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns.
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Pray with someone (in person)
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Buy someone coffee
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Compliment someone
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Give someone a word of encouragement
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Make a meal for someone
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Serve a neighbor
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Share Jesus
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Invite someone to Church
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Give a gift card
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Give a ride
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Talk to a homeless person
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Thank someone
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Donate to Salvation Army
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Intercede for someone
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Encourage someone
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Brag on someone to a 3rd party
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Give someone a prophetic word
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Give a gift
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Make a phone call
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Send a note to someone
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Babysit for free
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Buy doughnuts for coworkers
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Buy someone groceries
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Leave a huge tip
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Tell someone you are thankful for them