Lent planning guide

Lent Studies for Small Groups

Lent gives a group about seven meetings between Ash Wednesday and Easter. These studies take up what the season is for — repentance, the disciplines, suffering, and the cross — and every card shows the session count, so you can see which ones land on Easter and which run past it.

11 studies below. Catalog facts last updated .

How these studies were chosen

These were chosen for the subjects Lent raises: repentance, self-examination, the disciplines, suffering, and the cross. Several run longer than the season; where the timing matters, the line under the book says how to work with it.

This is editorial judgment plus catalog facts — nothing here is ordered by sales, downloads, or ratings, and no title is claimed to be better than another. Read Week 1 of any guide free and decide for your own group.

A Grief Observed

by C.S. Lewis

Schedule
6 sessions
Full guide
43 discussion questions

Why it works for Lent: Six sessions, which fits between Ash Wednesday and Easter almost exactly. Lewis wrote it in real time while grieving, so a group is reading someone’s Lent rather than a book about Lent.

Show the 6-session schedule
  1. 1.Introduction — Madeleine L'Engle's Preface
  2. 2.Section One — "No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear"
  3. 3.Section Two — "The same leg is cut off time after time"
  4. 4.Section Three — "Something quite unexpected has happened"
  5. 5.Section Four — "How wicked it would be to call her back"
  6. 6.Review & Reflection — The Whole Journey
Read Week 1 FreePreview Discussion QuestionsGuide details →

Life Together

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Schedule
7 sessions
Full guide
52 discussion questions

Why it works for Lent: Seven sessions whose last chapter is Bonhoeffer on confession and communion — the practice Lent keeps circling back to. Seven meetings is also about what Ash Wednesday to Easter gives most groups.

Show the 7-session schedule
  1. 1.Introduction — The Context and the Gift
  2. 2.Chapter 1 — Community
  3. 3.Chapter 2 — The Day with Others
  4. 4.Chapter 3 — The Day Alone
  5. 5.Chapter 4 — Ministry
  6. 6.Chapter 5 — Confession and Communion
  7. 7.Review & Reflection — The Whole Vision
Read Week 1 FreePreview Discussion QuestionsGuide details →

Suffering Is Never for Nothing

by Elisabeth Elliot

Schedule
8 sessions
Full guide
63 discussion questions

Why it works for Lent: Eight sessions, one per chapter: the gift nobody wants, then suffering and love, trust, transformation, surrender, gratitude, glory. Elliot buried two husbands and never sweetens any of it.

Show the 8-session schedule
  1. 1.Chapter 1 — The Gift Nobody Wants
  2. 2.Chapter 2 — Suffering and Love
  3. 3.Chapter 3 — Suffering and Trust
  4. 4.Chapter 4 — Suffering and Transformation
  5. 5.Chapter 5 — Suffering and Surrender
  6. 6.Chapter 6 — Suffering and Gratitude
  7. 7.Chapter 7 — Suffering and Glory
  8. 8.Review & Reflection
Read Week 1 FreePreview Discussion QuestionsGuide details →

The Pursuit of Holiness

by Jerry Bridges

Schedule
12 sessions
Full guide
86 discussion questions

Why it works for Lent: Twelve sessions on the ordinary work of putting sin to death — obedience, discipline, the will, holiness in an unholy world. Longer than the season, but it is the subject Lent exists for.

Show the 12-session schedule
  1. 1.Introduction — The Call to Holiness
  2. 2.Chapter 2 — The Holiness of God
  3. 3.Chapter 3 — Holiness Is for You
  4. 4.Chapter 4 — The Requirement of Holiness
  5. 5.Chapter 5 — Obedience: The Path of Holiness
  6. 6.Chapter 6 — Putting Sin to Death
  7. 7.Chapter 7 — The Place of Personal Discipline
  8. 8.Chapter 8 — Holiness in Body and Spirit
  9. 9.Chapter 9 — Holiness and Our Wills
  10. 10.Chapter 10 — Holiness in an Unholy World
  11. 11.Chapter 11 — Holiness and Faith
  12. 12.Review & Reflection
Read Week 1 FreePreview Discussion QuestionsGuide details →

Jesus the King

by Timothy Keller

Schedule
14 sessions
Full guide
92 discussion questions

Why it works for Lent: Fourteen sessions through Mark; the ransom, the temple, the anointing, the cup, the cry, and the resurrection arrive in sessions 8 through 13. Start it around the new year and the resurrection session lands in Easter week.

Show the 14-session schedule
  1. 1.Introduction — The Beginning of the Gospel
  2. 2.Chapter 1 — The Dance
  3. 3.Chapter 2 — The Healing
  4. 4.Chapter 3 — The Calling
  5. 5.Chapter 4 — The Storm
  6. 6.Chapter 5 — The Bread
  7. 7.Chapter 6 — The Transfiguration
  8. 8.Chapter 7 — The Ransom
  9. 9.Chapter 8 — The Temple
  10. 10.Chapter 9 — The Anointing
  11. 11.Chapter 10 — The Cup
  12. 12.Chapter 11 — The Cry
  13. 13.Chapter 12 — The Resurrection
  14. 14.Review & Reflection — The King and Us
Read Week 1 FreePreview Discussion QuestionsGuide details →

Walking with God through Pain and Suffering

by Timothy Keller

Schedule
14 sessions
Full guide
99 discussion questions

Why it works for Lent: Fourteen sessions in three movements: how every worldview handles suffering, what Scripture says about it, and how a person actually walks through it. The closing weeks are practical — the furnace, and praying inside it.

Show the 14-session schedule
  1. 1.Introduction — The Existential Challenge
  2. 2.Chapter 1 — The Challenge of Suffering to Christian Faith
  3. 3.Chapter 2 — The Cultures of Suffering
  4. 4.Chapter 3 — The Secular Approach to Suffering
  5. 5.Chapter 4 — The Religious Approach to Suffering
  6. 6.Chapter 5 — The Challenge to God's Existence
  7. 7.Chapter 6 — The Sovereignty of God
  8. 8.Chapter 7 — The Reasons for Suffering
  9. 9.Chapter 8 — The Suffering of Hell and the Hope of Glory
  10. 10.Chapter 9 — Learning to Walk
  11. 11.Chapter 10 — The Varieties of Suffering
  12. 12.Chapter 11 — Finding God in the Furnace
  13. 13.Chapter 12 — Praying Through Suffering
  14. 14.Review & Reflection — The Whole Journey
Read Week 1 FreePreview Discussion QuestionsGuide details →

The Cost of Discipleship

by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Schedule
13 sessions
Full guide
96 discussion questions

Why it works for Lent: Thirteen sessions that open on cheap grace and work toward being conformed to a crucified Christ. Bonhoeffer wrote it while the German church was making its compromise, which gives the Lenten questions their edge.

Show the 13-session schedule
  1. 1.Introduction — Costly Grace vs. Cheap Grace
  2. 2.The Call to Discipleship
  3. 3.Single-Minded Obedience
  4. 4.Discipleship and the Cross
  5. 5.Discipleship and the Individual / The Beatitudes
  6. 6.Salt, Light, and the Righteousness of Christ
  7. 7.The Antitheses — A Deeper Righteousness
  8. 8.The Hidden Righteousness — Piety in Secret
  9. 9.The Disciple and the World — Anxiety, Judgment, and the Narrow Gate
  10. 10.The Messengers — The Mission Discourse
  11. 11.The Church and the World — The Body of Christ
  12. 12.The Image of Christ — Conformation and Cruciformity
  13. 13.Review & Reflection — The Cost We Have Counted
Read Week 1 FreePreview Discussion QuestionsGuide details →

Where Is God When It Hurts?

by Philip Yancey

Schedule
13 sessions
Full guide
93 discussion questions

Why it works for Lent: Thirteen sessions that stay with the question instead of answering it early, including a whole week on how to help someone who is in pain. Good for a group that has people in it right now.

Show the 13-session schedule
  1. 1.Introduction — The Problem Nobody Wants to Talk About
  2. 2.Chapter 1 — A World Without Pain
  3. 3.Chapter 2 — Painless Hell
  4. 4.Chapter 3 — Agony and Ecstasy
  5. 5.Chapter 4 — Stretching
  6. 6.Chapter 5 — The Groaning Planet
  7. 7.Chapter 6 — How People Respond to Pain
  8. 8.Chapter 7 — Interlude: A True War Story
  9. 9.Chapter 8 — Is God Silent?
  10. 10.Chapter 9 — Where Is God When It Hurts?
  11. 11.Chapter 10 — Interpreting Pain
  12. 12.Chapter 11 — How to Help a Person in Pain
  13. 13.Review & Reflection — Bringing It All Together
Read Week 1 FreePreview Discussion QuestionsGuide details →

The Imitation of Christ

by Thomas à Kempis

Schedule
15 sessions
Full guide
105 discussion questions

Why it works for Lent: Fifteen sessions in a fifteenth-century manual on humility, patience, bearing injuries, and bearing the cross. Longer than Lent as a whole, but the first two books run six sessions, which is the length of the season.

Show the 15-session schedule
  1. 1.Introductory Note — Who Was Thomas à Kempis?
  2. 2.Book One, Chapters I–V — Vanity and the Knowledge of Truth
  3. 3.Book One, Chapters VI–XII — Peace, Adversity, and the Uses of Trouble
  4. 4.Book One, Chapters XIII–XIX — Judgment, Charity, and the Religious Life
  5. 5.Book One, Chapters XX–XXV — Solitude, Death, and the Amendment of Life
  6. 6.Book Two, Chapters I–VI — The Inward Life and the Joy of a Good Conscience
  7. 7.Book Two, Chapters VII–XII — Loving Jesus, Bearing the Cross
  8. 8.Book Three, Chapters I–IX — The Inward Voice and Walking in Truth
  9. 9.Book Three, Chapters X–XIX — Patience, Obedience, and Bearing Injuries
  10. 10.Book Three, Chapters XX–XXX — Consolation, Desolation, and Casting Care on God
  11. 11.Book Three, Chapters XXXI–XLI — Self-Denial, Nature, and Grace
  12. 12.Book Three, Chapters XLII–LIX — Hope in God Alone
  13. 13.Book Four, Chapters I–VI — The Sacrament of the Altar: Reverence and Charity
  14. 14.Book Four, Chapters VII–XVIII — Preparation, Desire, and the Humble Imitator
  15. 15.Review & Reflection — The Whole Journey
Read Week 1 FreePreview Discussion QuestionsGuide details →

Celebration of Discipline

by Richard Foster

Schedule
14 sessions
Full guide
99 discussion questions

Why it works for Lent: Fourteen sessions, one per discipline — meditation, prayer, fasting, study, simplicity, solitude, confession, and on to celebration. If your group would rather take something up for Lent than only give something up, this is the map.

Show the 14-session schedule
  1. 1.Introduction — The Spiritual Disciplines
  2. 2.Chapter 1 — Meditation
  3. 3.Chapter 2 — Prayer
  4. 4.Chapter 3 — Fasting
  5. 5.Chapter 4 — Study
  6. 6.Chapter 5 — Simplicity
  7. 7.Chapter 6 — Solitude
  8. 8.Chapter 7 — Submission
  9. 9.Chapter 8 — Service
  10. 10.Chapter 9 — Confession
  11. 11.Chapter 10 — Worship
  12. 12.Chapter 11 — Guidance
  13. 13.Chapter 12 — Celebration
  14. 14.Review & Reflection
Read Week 1 FreePreview Discussion QuestionsGuide details →

The Problem of Pain

by C.S. Lewis

Schedule
13 sessions
Full guide
91 discussion questions

Why it works for Lent: Thirteen sessions of Lewis reasoning carefully through omnipotence, goodness, human wickedness, hell, and heaven. A thinking group’s Lent — and the natural companion to A Grief Observed, which he wrote twenty years later from the other side.

Show the 13-session schedule
  1. 1.Preface — Lewis's Starting Point
  2. 2.Chapter 1 — Introductory
  3. 3.Chapter 2 — Divine Omnipotence
  4. 4.Chapter 3 — Divine Goodness
  5. 5.Chapter 4 — Human Wickedness
  6. 6.Chapter 5 — The Fall of Man
  7. 7.Chapter 6 — Human Pain
  8. 8.Chapter 7 — Human Pain, Continued
  9. 9.Chapter 8 — Hell
  10. 10.Chapter 9 — Animal Pain
  11. 11.Chapter 10 — Heaven
  12. 12.Appendix — Note on the Painlessness of the Un-fallen World
  13. 13.Review & Reflection
Read Week 1 FreePreview Discussion QuestionsGuide details →