Lent can be one of the most daunting seasons in parish life. It begins with Ash Wednesday, unfolds through penance services and final OCIA preparations, and culminates in the marathon of Holy Week and Easter liturgies. On top of this, parishes often also host a full slate of Lenten offerings: Stations of the Cross, book studies, retreats, fish fries, and expanded opportunities for Confession and Adoration.
In the midst of all of this activity, it can be easy for Lent to feel crowded rather than contemplative. A parish mission offers parishioners a way to pause, refocus, and intentionally invite parishioners into the heart of the season—calling them to deeper conversion, renewed faith, and greater connection to the parish community. Here’s how to thoughtfully plan a Lenten parish mission that will have lasting impact for your parishioners and your parish community.
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With your team, take time to work out and clearly articulate why you’re hosting a Lenten parish mission. Having this “why” identified will help keep your team motivated and help inform all the decisions before the mission, and define success as you evaluate it.
Identify an intentional theme
With your why in mind, take time to prayerfully consider a theme that fits into your parish’s Lenten experience. Consider using the readings for the Sundays of Lent as inspiration. As you do this, think through your parishioners’ needs and wants. What are they most concerned about this Lenten season? How can this theme respond to those things that are most important to them? This theme will not only be important for the content of the actual event, but should also tie into your promotion and followup communications before and after it.
Choose a format that works for your parish
There are a variety of ways to host a parish mission: a single night talk or a multi-night series, a talk followed by Q&A or a talk followed by praise and worship, an opportunity for small groups or contemplative prayer, featuring a speaker from your community, hired from outside your community, or a video series. Consider how you want this mission to feel and build out a format, schedule, and run-of-show or flow for the event that gives your team confidence as they carry it out.
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Don’t let your parish mission get lost in the fullness of the Lenten season. Think through how you can most effectively invite parishioners (and non-parishioners!) to this event. Maybe you share a video of your pastor making an invitation, inspire parishioners to invite newcomers to attend, send printed invitations to parishioners via mail, or post flyers or distribute postcards around local community spaces to spread the word. If appropriate, you can use a form to collect RSVPs and use that to capture data on who plans to attend.
Follow up to inspire ongoing engagement
A Lenten parish mission can not only be impactful for those who attend, but can also be an opportunity to invite attendees into a deeper engagement with your parish. At the event, think about how you’ll invite folks to continue to journey with your parish community during Lent. Can you connect them with a ministry to participate in, give them a save the date card with Holy Week liturgies or penance service times, or help them join a small group? Try to identify ways you can help attendees dive deeper into the life of your parish community.
A well planned Lenten parish mission doesn’t need to be elaborate to be effective. When it’s rooted in a clear purpose, shaped by the real needs of your parishioners, and offered with prayerful intention, a mission can be a profound moment, inviting your parishioners to turn their hearts to the Lord, in preparation for Easter. With prayer, clarity, and courage invite your parish into the heart of Lent with a parish mission planned with intention.
Check out this free Easter guide and use our ready-to-use welcome plan to reach out and connect with the new faces at your parish.
Leah Butalid
Leah Butalid is a mission-driven communicator with a background in digital evangelization and parish and diocesan communications. After serving many years with Life Teen, she transitioned into parish communications before joining the Archdiocese of Detroit’s Communications Department. Leah is passionate about the places where the Church and innovation meet, and she brings that creativity and conviction to every project she undertakes.
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