This Lent, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York are encouraging families to share in simple acts of kindness together, while Methodists and celebrity chef Delia Smith are opting for stillness and quiet time.

The Church of England’s Love Life Live Lent programme promotes the idea that doing a good turn for friends, neighbours or the wider community can be just as transforming and spiritually beneficial as ‘giving something up’ for Lent.

Some of the acts of kindness suggested in the campaign include encouraging Christians to donate their unwanted clothes and toys to charity shops, to ditch flashy Mother’s Day presents in favour of simple home-made gifts, and to create a prayer space in the understairs cupboard.

“With God’s help we can change the world for good a little bit every day. Together we can build better and more generous communities. Together we can lighten the load on our planet. We show God’s love when we do these things,” the Archbishops say.

Two pocket-sized booklets have been published this year with tips on how children, young people and adults can complete a Lent’s worth of actions as a family. The actions focus on the home and family; the community; school, college or the workplace; global actions; and actions encouraging prayer and stillness.

The Methodist Church’s Lent campaign encourages people to make simple changes that can help them get more out of their lives. It was launched together with the results of a Church poll which found that most young people would like more hours in the day to get through everything on their to-do list.