Which Protestant groups have Ash Wednesday services?

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Catholics have long been known for commemorating Ash Wednesday. My Methodist congregation does as well, including the application of ashes on the foreheads of those who come up to get them applied. Usually we have a solemn service in which our pastor says, "Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, Repent and Believe", or something similar when applying the ashes.

Just curious which other Protestant denominations have Ash Wednesday services and the application of ashes and which ones don’t. Mainly just curious… Thanks if you can help with this.

If your denomination doesn’t have an Ash Wednesday service, do you happen to know what the rationale is for being opposed to it?
 
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It is probably not uniform, even inside one denomination.

Where I live, the nearby Reformed monastery has an Ash Wednesday service, with application of ashes. Regular Reformed parishes do not.
 
It’s more a function of what individual ministers want to do, especially since many of the non-mainline Protestant churches are pretty independent in how they do things.
I’m pretty sure the African-American Presbyterian church next to me will be having services because they do so every Wednesday anyway.

In Philadelphia there will be Protestant ministers doing the “Ashes to Go” thing again like they do every year for many years now. They go out to some public place downtown like subway stations or a major landmark and give ashes to anybody passing by who wants some.
 
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We conduct Ash Wednesday services with application of ashes. This is pretty uniform throughout my denomination (Lutheran Church Missouri Synod), and throughout the other conservative synods in the US (WELS, ELS).
 
OddBird said:
It is probably not uniform, even inside one denomination.
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This is becoming more true with each passing year. Used to be, the Baptists and ‘Christian’ churches (nondenominationals) wouldn’t do ashes at all - too Catholic. Now, I’m seeing more signs pop up all over town (and social media posts around the country) saying some of these are doing ash services or “drive thru” offerings this year.
 
I remember seeing some website for an evangelical church with the pastor having posted a long explanation about why his church was offering ashes this year when they previously had never done so.

I personally find it odd that people mob the churches to get ashes on Ash Wednesday. A priest told us in a homily a couple years ago that Ash Wednesday is actually the biggest attendance day at the parish, bigger than Christmas, bigger than Easter. I will be going to the 6:30 am Mass because the year I went to the afternoon Mass, the church was SRO, people were jamming every aisle and the parking lot was a mess with people parking anywhere and everywhere. I don’t remember it being like that when I was a kid.
 
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Wow, pretty interesting read. Thought us Catholics were the only one to do it. Cultural appropriation of Catholics. Just kidding :crazy_face:😉
 
I’m optimistic that it’s a sign that people are at least acknowledging their longing for God, even if they don’t stick with it. 😇 🙏

Of course, some just need the…attention. :roll_eyes:
 
Church of the Nazarene congregations observe Lent and typically have an Ash Wednesday service with distribution of ashes.
 
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Our local Uniting Church has a sign up for an Ash Wednesday service. I think it is the result of our local ecumenical movement called Churches United. For years all the Christian churches have been sharing more and more celebrations and scripture studies. A lot of non Catholic Christians are surprised by how Christian Catholics are through this dialogue.
 
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Thanks to all who have responded. In addition to Catholics, who have been observing it the longest, it sounds like most of the mainline Protestant denominations observe Ash Wednesday, along with some non-denominational congregations, although some have pointed out that the degree of participation is more often decided at the local level and may not be a denomination-wide thing.

Does anyone know of any Southern Baptist congregations who distribute ashes? They are a large group in my area and I am not aware of their participation in it, but will see if I can find out.
 
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Tommy999 said:
Just curious which other Protestant denominations have Ash Wednesday services and the application of ashes and which ones don’t. Mainly just curious… Thanks if you can help with this.

If your denomination doesn’t have an Ash Wednesday service, do you happen to know what the rationale is for being opposed to it?
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The anglo-catholics where I was baptised and confirmed, do have ash wednesday service and do observe fasting although, not as stringent as Catholics/Orthodox.

Evangelicals/Reformed, such as presbyterian and low-church anglicans, don’t participate in ash wednesday. The central idea is that they see it as a form of works and believe in faith alone. And another idea is that they are opposed to church tradition and only deem authority from the bible alone, they might argue that ash wednesday is a tradition, that isn’t to be found in the bible.
 
I had to miss the Shrove Tuesday pancake supper. Got a cold.

And 'ware the generalizing. Anglo-Catholics and mid-range Anglicans will be doing Ashes. And I’ll bet I can find some on the reformed side, ditto.
 
The only ones of which I am aware of here, in the UK, are Anglicans. I know people who belong to other Protestant groups but none seem to each acknowledge Ash Wednesday let alone have any form of liturgy or imposition of ashes.
 
Yes…we “went” to the 8:30AM mass at our church…it was pouring down with rain…sure we’ll get a park…plus we’re always 30 minutes early before mass…not a chance in hades…carpark full…all surrounding streets full…any other time we go to mass there’s maybe 1-2 other people early like we do…there are six masses at our church today…maybe we’ll try the last mass at 8:30PM tonight…I know I’m being judgemental but I can’t help thinking those Catholics who go to mass a couple times a year will be strutting around all day with their ashes cross on their forehead showing everyone how holy they are…(cynical aren’t I).
 
So the church where we had our son baptised had a Glitter Ash Wednesday service today, where they mixed glitter into the palm ashes. That’s a C of E church for what it’s worth.
 
Ummm…yeah.

I am not totally surprised. But never heard of this particular eccentricity, before.
 
I was listening to EWTN radio this morning and they were talking about glitter Ash Wednesday…apparently it’s to do with those showing solidarity with the LGBTQ community
 
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