The 40 days of Lent saw Christians carry out more than 2.9 million acts of generosity, according to Stewardship.

The charity's 40acts Lent challenge, which launched on Ash Wednesday, asks people to do one simple generous act each day over Lent. This year it had nearly 75,000 people taking part, making it the biggest in its five year history.

During the last 40 days participants have cleaned graffiti off local buildings, left free chocolates in gym lockers, written letters of encouragement to those in prison, surprised strangers with flowers or bought coffee for them in cafes, and invited the neighbours around for pudding parties in an attempt to 'give out' rather than just give something up for Lent.

One of the most popular challenges of this year's 40acts was Chocolate Tuesday, where thousands of people slipped chocolate bars into people's handbags, gave out free chocolates on trains and buses, or brought in sweet treats for their class at school.

40acts concluded on Holy Saturday, where those taking part were challenged to do one last anonymous blow-out act of generosity that stretched them beyond their comfort zones.

Stewardship provided tailored materials to ensure schools, churches, groups, students, families and individuals could take part.

Ruth Bartholomew, who took part in 40acts this year with her husband and three daughters, said: "We chose to do 40acts as a family so that we would have activities that we could do together and to show kindness within our family and also to our community members.

"It has had a positive impact on us all. Through all the acts we have taken part and in particular by delivering flowers, cakes, and treats to our neighbours, we have positively influenced our community and opened doors to more meaningful relationships with those we share life with."

40acts also has a huge following on social media where those taking part share their actions for each day and encourage each other. This year the 40acts Facebook group more than doubled in size from 12,000 to 25,000 and its Instagram community tripled from 900 to 2,700 sharing their photos online. 2,000 new Twitter followers joined the conversation, creating a community that supported and encouraged each other.

Alexandra Khan, part of the 40acts team at Stewardship, said: "It's been a phenomenal year. The 40acts community is an incredible mix of people from all over the world. We've loved hearing their stories, seeing new friendships forged, and watching a ripple of generosity happen throughout Lent. For the last 40 days, the motto was 'do Lent generously'. Now it's time to 'do Life generously'."