40 Days of Prayer & Fasting & Heaven Week

So you'll know where I'm coming from, when I was a Sr. Pastor of a Wesleyan church I always looked forward to the annual mailing from the department of Evangelism and Church Growth on "40 Days of Prayer & Fasting". I thought that it was a well laid out lent emphasis that could assist my congregation in focusing on spiritual disciplines with practical applications.

Have you used the program? Did you like it? Why or why not?

Same with Heaven Week ( Remember when it was 'Salvation Sunday'? ) I used Heaven Week to get everyone on the same page - "let's pray and plan and prepare...and see how many people will come to Christ during Heaven Week". Sure, we did a lot of other stuff during the year too, and yeah, I've heard a thousand people say heaven week should be every week ( most of them haven't seen a conversion or baptism in years! )

Did you use Heaven Week? Why or why not?

Where's this going? Glad you asked! Evangelism and Church Growth and the Spiritual Formation Department are working together on a brand new emphasis that would bring the best of both of the above mentioned programs together in one lent-Easter-Spring package.

I'd love to hear from you if you have any thoughts on either of these, what you would like to see in a new program, and what would be helpful to your church especially during lent or in leading people to Christ/inviting people to church.