3 Things We Can Learn from Santa

Next to Jesus, Santa is the most recognizable figure during the Christmas season. And while Christmas is centered on Christ, there is a massive marketing push with Santa and everything that comes along with it: presents, Christmas trees, and massive comatose meals with families. We wanted to help you leverage this truth in your churches, and have created three keys you can take away from Santa.

1. Stick with what works. Have you noticed that Santa has barely changed over the last 100 years? He’s got rosy red cheeks and a large belly that wiggles like a bowl full of jelly. He’s got high boots, a large buckle, and a red suit. And for the most part, he looks the same around the world. Sure, there are a few changes from country to culture, but he’s relatively unchanged. It works for him. Have you found what works for you? If you have, stick with it.
2. Get others to share in your work. Santa is never on his own. He’s got elves to create presents and reindeers to pull his sleigh, and depending on what version you read or watch, he’s got yetis to protect his house in the North Pole. He’s never alone, and he never does every job in the workshop. In order for his delivery system to work around the globe, it takes everyone chipping in. Is this the case for you and your church, or are some carrying the load more than others?
3. Be reproducible. If you walk into a mall during December, you will undoubtedly find Santa at the center of it with elves taking all your money in the form of Christmas pictures. Kids line up for miles just to find him and share their Christmas wish-list, while parents wisely listen in on what they need to buy in time for Christmas. But it’s not just our mall that has Santa. It’s your mall, and the mall in the city next to and the state on the other end of the country. Santa is everywhere, because he works, he involves others in the Christmas spirit, and he’s easily reproducible. If we were to replace Santa with the name of you or your church, would that last sentence work the same?

If you want to be successful as a church and as a Christian, then you must fit into these keys just as much as Santa does. He works because he hits all of them out of the park. And if the church is carrying the greatest message on the face of the planet, shouldn’t it be doing the same or better?