The December Think Tank question:
How do you handle the whole issue of Santa Claus in your ministry? How would you redirect a group of children at church who are debating his existence? What advice would you give Christian parents & grandparents about Santa?
My response:
Imagination is a healthy, natural part of a child’s development. Imagination plays an important role in allowing a child to fantasize, pretend, and assign human traits to inanimate objects.
Santa fits right in with the imagination of a young child. But children grow up, mature, and begin to wonder if Santa is real. Older children (especially older siblings) often tease younger children about their continued belief in Santa.
This is the part where adults and leaders can intervene and begin to gently explain another aspect of Santa. Christmas is about giving, not receiving. Santa is the spirit of giving. What happens when a young child asks if he’s real? Adults can explain that he is real in the minds and hearts of those who truly believe in the giving spirit of Christmas. That is a difficult concept for young children to grasp but over a period of time of pondering and teaching and maturation, they will begin to understand.
Here is a bit of advice for parents/grandparents on Santa: It’s ok to believe in Santa with your children but remember to emphasis the true gift-giving meaning of Christmas as the birth of Jesus, the amazing gift God gave to all people.
