Fasting for Lent: Why evangelical Christian millennials are embracing the ritual

One year, 22-year-old Bethany Mark tried to go vegan. The next, she skipped coffee.

Her annual spring fasts aren't about bettering herself or saving the environment. They're her 21st Century way of observing Lent, a 40-day Christian season of preparation for Easter.

"To be able to connect to something that's been passed down by our church fathers is really breathtaking," said Mark, who plans to teach English as a second language after graduation from Multnomah University.

Protestant millennials are embracing Lent - a trend that contracts stereotypes about the younger generation's interest in religious ritual. Last year, the Barna Group asked Americans if they planned to fast, which can mean abstaining from certain foods or activities. Millennials, adults ages 18 to 34 this year, were more likely to say yes than their parents' generation.

Those results hold true in the Portland area as well: Scholars at Multnomah University say they've noticed a surge in recent years of Protestant students interested in liturgy, or ceremonies and rites used for worship.

"They want to go deep because they often feel like life is shallow," said Paul Metzger, a professor of theology and culture. "Tradition is a way they can connect to something beyond themselves."

Interest in Lent is fairly stable among Catholic millennials, said Martin Connell, theology professor at the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University. Ritual isn't novel for people who grew up in High Church.

As far back as the third century, Christians fasted in preparation for Easter, Connell said.

"It was a very public thing," he said. "People would wear sackcloth. People wouldn't bathe. They would wear uncomfortable clothing."

The weeks of sacrifice were all about preparing new converts for baptism, which was traditionally done at Easter.

Lent has survived in Catholicism - despite a drop-off in Easter baptisms - though it looks very different now. Today, many Catholics abstain from meat every Friday during Lent and fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. Some also sacrifice something else during the 40-day season, such as sweets or social media.

Some Protestant groups have adopted Lent and other liturgical rituals in the last several decades. Now more evangelical Christians, who generally worship in a more contemporary, gospel-centered style, are joining them.

"Evangelicals are now coming to recognize that this belongs to the whole church," said Karen Westerfield Tucker, a theology professor at Boston University. "Practicing Lent as an evangelical is not claiming to be Catholic. It's claiming to be Christian."

Andy Garber, 27, is an evangelical Protestant, not a Catholic. But he's observing Lent this year for the first time by giving up candy, a favorite luxury.

"I was always told, 'That's a Catholic thing,'" he said, but a growing number of Protestant friends observing the ritual each year pushed him to give it a try.

"Historically, Protestants and Catholics haven't gotten along that well," Garber said. As an employee at Cru (formerly known as Campus Crusade), he spends a lot of time with students at the University of Portland, a Catholic school. "I sense that tension. I think this could be a great way to bridge the gap."

That desire to break down barriers between denominations is central to millennials' attraction to liturgy, Metzger said. Adults in that generation often see disputes over doctrine and practice as trivial. Many support the movement toward greater cooperation between Catholics and Protestant denominations that began after the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

Millennials' desire for rootedness could have serious implications for evangelical churches, which often lack the historic ceremony of Catholic and mainline Protestant services.

Many large evangelical churches tried to remove all traces of ritual in the 1980s, 90s and early 2000s, said Mike Tatlock, a pastor at Grace Chapel in Wilsonville. Leaders didn't want services to feel too "churchy" because they wanted newcomers to be comfortable.

"A lot of churches strived to create what I would call a watered-down, simplified way of doing church," Tatlock said.

But many young adults aren't interested in a watered-down faith. Tatlock said he's noticed a shift in recent years - particularly in the Pacific Northwest. More pastors are looking to early Christian churches for wisdom and tradition.

"When we practice Lent, it's something that's older than us," said Elijah Shockley. The 28-year-old grew up in conservative churches and hadn't experienced a liturgical approach to worship until recently. He didn't give up anything for Lent this year, he said, but wants to. He's drawn to ritual for its power to make him feel connected.

"It's older than our country. Doing it, we're in the company of Christians who have done the same celebration years before - Blaise Pascal, Jonathan Edwards, Billy Graham, Mother Teresa. There's continuity."