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Church Leadership

Planning for Spontaneity

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Are you a planner, or do you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants?

I’m sorry. That didn’t sound very spiritual. Let me put that in churchy language: Do you make plans, or do you just let the Spirit lead?

Order v. freedom. These two approaches don’t have to live in opposite corners, but unfortunately, the “Orderites” view the “Freedomites” with disdain,  and the “Freedomites” look down their spiritual noses at the “Orderites.”

It’s nothing new. In the 2nd century, the Montanist Movement arose with an emphasis on the spontaneity of the Holy Spirit. They saw the church as becoming too structured; conversely, the established church saw this movement as venturing into heretical territory with too much emphasis on prophetic revelations instead of the written Word of God. There was some validity in the accusations of both groups.

Another example comes from colonial America. The established churches with their rules and order looked down on those who emphasized the “inner light” (to borrow a Quaker term). While schools like Yale and Harvard were still institutions with a Christian emphasis, they had concern over the “spiritual enthusiasm” of students influenced during the Great Awakening.

The tension continues, as churches stare down each other over the question of how much emphasis should we give to the Holy Spirit. Order v. freedom. This should not be an either/or matter. It should be both/and. We need to plan—and we need to let the Spirit lead.

“Everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way” (1 Cor. 14:40).

Confession: I am a planner. I live by this verse. I have a love for to-do lists. My prep for Sunday’s sermon begins on the previous Sunday.

Planning is good, but too much reliance on that plan can be bad. On previous occasions as I’ve prepared to lead a Bible study group, I have created teaching plans I was sure would lead those in my group to (1) bring five more people with them next week, (2) go on the mission field, and (3) spearhead revival in America. But then someone would raise a question or an idea would surface that wasn’t in my well-orchestrated plan. I can’t help but wonder if I have been guilty of quenching the Spirit because I wouldn’t deviate from my plan.

Once when I was preparing to lead a group through Experiencing God, I was captured by something I heard from the author, Henry Blackaby.

Plan, but be prepared for the Holy Spirit to work.

In the Book of Nehemiah, we find Nehemiah grieved by a report he received about Jerusalem. He rightfully turned to God and prayed for the city and for himself. He wanted God to work. He sought God’s leadership, but at the same time, he planned.

The king said to me, “What is it you want?”

Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king …” (Neh. 2:4-5).

And Nehemiah laid before the king a detailed plan. He had prayed. He had planned. He prayed again. And now he presented the plan he had prayed over.

Order and freedom are not mutually exclusive. Planning and relying on the Spirit should go hand-in-hand.

  • Creating plans without a reliance on the Spirit’s leadership is presumptuous on our part. I can figure this out on my own,
  • Simply waiting for the Spirit to lead us at the critical moment is equally presumptuous. God will tell me everything I need to know at the last minute.

Prayer—a dependence on God—must permeate our planning and our action. God will often change our plans at the last moment, but if we have been dependent on Him through the whole process, we are in a far better position to know what is of God and what is not.

Plan, but be prepared for the Holy Spirit to work.

Lynn Pryor is the publishing team leader for Bible Studies for Life. He is serving a Nashville church as their transitional interim pastor. Lynn and his wife, Mary, have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com. Follow him @lynnpryor.

 

Church Leadership

An Innovative Approach to Church Life…from 1916

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The following historical tidbit surprised me.

It just seems so natural to walk into the store, make my selections while I walk up and down the aisles, and check out. But prior to 1916, you went to the local grocer and simply handed him your list. He went to the back, got the items, and brought them out to you. Every store did that, including the store Clarence Saunders operated in Memphis. But the process bugged Saunders. It was time-consuming. He wanted a faster way to serve customers—and serve more customers.

This sounds so ordinary to us, but he rocked the shopper’s world when they walked into his new store and found all the products were out front—not in the back. He handed shoppers a basket and empowered them to pick up their own items!

Some people expected this approach to fail. The naysayers expected a negative reaction: I should be paying less since I’m doing the bulk of the work. But when Saunders opened his new store on September 6, 1916, his innovation took off. And here we are 100 years later, gladly standing in the chip aisle, trying to choose between Cool Ranch or Nacho Cheese Doritos. Some of us still shop in the store bearing the same name as the 1916 original: Piggly Wiggly.

Believers need to approach the Christian life with the same attitude we have when we enter the grocery store. If you need something, you go get it. Instead, too many Christians go to church expecting others—in particular, the church staff—to do things for them.

  • Pastor, I need you to pray for my Uncle Murray. Because God listens more to pastors.
  • Pastor, you need to share the gospel with my neighbor. If he was saved, he’d keep his dog out of my yard. Because the message of salvation only has meaning when it comes from the pastor—and not from someone who has been yelling at the neighbor’s dog.
  • Pastor, you need to visit Martha. She’s upset because she’s been ill yet no one came to see her. Because only pastors are allowed to visit the sick.
  • Pastor, the restroom is out of paper towels—again.

Anyone who has ever pastored can tell you these are exactly the kinds of things many church members expect their leaders to do. It never crosses their minds that they could do these things themselves.

Church members need to get out of 1915! Let’s move into 1916 with its innovative approach to grocery shopping and apply the same principle to church life. If you see something in life and ministry that needs to be done, do it. Don’t present your list to the pastor and expect him to do it.

Notice who does the work of ministry in this passage:

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service” (Eph. 4:11-12).

Don’t give your ministry shopping list to your pastor. Take care of it yourself—as God leads you and works through you.

“Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms” (1 Pet. 4:8-10).

Lynn Pryor is the publishing team leader for Bible Studies for Life. He is serving a Nashville church as their transitional interim pastor. Lynn and his wife, Mary, have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com. Follow him @lynnpryor.
Church Leadership

When the Local Bar Acts More Like the Church Than the Church Does

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For the record, I don’t frequent bars. But I do watch a lot of movies. And if Hollywood—that bastion of truth—has taught me anything about bars, it’s two things the church should embrace:

  1. People in bars talk to each other. OK, so maybe it’s because a little alcohol works on our inhibitions, but people talk. They talk to whoever walked in with them, the bartender, or just the random guy sitting on the next bar stool. They talk problems at home, hassles of work, or whatever. They talk about life.
  2. People in bars accept you just as you are.This is the part that fascinates me. People will talk about themselves, and those listening just listen. No judgments. There’s a sense of shared humanity: we’ve all got problems and we’re in this together.

Sure, people at church talk to each other, but there’s often a superficiality to it. We talk about the Bible, we talk about Jesus—and in all we talk about, we want to appear spiritual. We want to look like we’ve got it all together. After all, if we’re Christians and we love Jesus, shouldn’t we have it all together?

We don’t have it all together.

And because we don’t have it all together—but we assume other believers do—we don’t want to open up, lest we look inferior or unspiritual. We’re afraid people won’t accept us as we are—or worse, they’ll reject us. So we pretend. And when it comes to praying together, we talk about a distant relative’s gall bladder rather than our own doubts and struggles. Unfortunately, this lack of openness means we miss out on the deep sense of family and fellowship—sharing all things in common—Christ intends for His church.

I lead a small group Bible study. One week as we closed in prayer, one of the group members requested prayer because she had been struggling with feeling down all week. At the end of our prayer time, another person commented, “I didn’t know she struggled with that too. I sometimes get down, but I didn’t want to say anything.” A connection was formed that day, and it created more openness in the group.

I always thought the theme song to Cheers would be a great theme song for the local church. Just for the moment, don’t picture Norm on a bar stool; picture Norm on a church pew. Shouldn’t the lyrics of this song reflect a key motivation for going to church?

Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got.
Taking a break from all your worries, sure would help a lot.
Wouldn’t you like to get away?

Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see our troubles are all the same.
You wanna be where everybody knows your name.

When we come to Christ, we come to His family. Let’s be family, talking and accepting each other.

“Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God” (Rom. 15:7).

Lynn Pryor is the publishing team leader for Bible Studies for Life. He is serving a Nashville church as their transitional interim pastor. Lynn and his wife, Mary, have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com. Follow him @lynnpryor.
Church Leadership

Three Ways to Improve Your Skill as a Small Group Leader

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When I enlist leaders for new groups, I look for one key trait:

a teachable spirit.

The value of any teacher—whether he or she has never led a group or has been leading groups for fifty years—is his or her desire to learn—and keep learning. Unfortunately, too many leaders assume they know exactly how to lead a group, and that assumption is based on how someone once led them. Too often, bad teaching skills are simply passed down through the years.

But even for those among who do know how to facilitate a group, it’s wise to keep learning. The message of Scripture never changes, but methodologies change. Different generations process knowledge and interact with one another in different ways. Culture has an impact on the teaching-learning process, so there is great value in continually looking for ways to improve. And if our desire is to honor Christ through our groups, wouldn’t that include a desire to give Him our very best?

Let me suggest three ways you can invest in your group members by becoming a better leader.

  1. Self study. Pick up a book and read it! Many books are available on creative teaching, facilitating a group, and leading effective Bible study groups. A set of books I have found especially helpful over the years are written (or co-authored) by David Francis. Each book is intensely practical. Although short (48 pages), each book is not one to breeze through. Read a chapter, mull it over, and consider ways to apply it to your leadership.
  1. Group planning. If your group is a part of a planned, strategic discipleship strategy in your church (and I sincerely hope it is), consider getting with other group leaders to plan. When the leaders are studying the same book or using the same curriculum, they can come together and share ideas. Some churches do this weekly; some do it monthly. I can immediately call to mind specific stories of how my group study was enriched because of planning beforehand with others. On some occasions, I have walked into the planning meeting with a solid plan in place, but as we discussed ideas for leading, I left with an even stronger plan. On other occasions, I struggled with how I would approach a certain issue or part of my plan. As I shared my concern and we discussed it, I left the meeting with a great solution.
  1. Conferences. Check around for Bible study training occurring in your area. Some denominations (Southern Baptists, for example) offer training events on a state and local level. These conferences are led by experienced practitioners and offer great tips for working with different age groups, developing a creative study, facilitating a discussion, and on and on. One benefit I particularly enjoy is interacting with leaders from different churches. We learn from each other.

Leading your group has kingdom impact. It is significant! That reason alone should be the impetus for doing what you can to continually hone your skills as a group leader. Take advantage of the opportunities before you.

Lynn Pryor is the publishing team leader for Bible Studies for Life. He is serving a Nashville church as their transitional interim pastor. Lynn and his wife, Mary, have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com. Follow him @lynnpryor.

 

Church Leadership

Taking Discipleship Beyond the Group Time

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Every Bible study leader wants to do more than simply teach the Bible. We lead our groups because we want to see people transformed by the truths of God’s Word. We want people to come to faith in Christ. We want people to grow in that faith and their walk with Christ.

But how do we do that? How do I disciple my group?

Discipleship is not limited to simply the time we meet. In fact, for those whose time with God is limited to the group experience, I’d say their discipleship is virtually non-existent. OK, maybe not non-existent, but it’s anemic.

Discipleship is a daily process. I encourage discipleship with my group by offering them a tool that gets them in the Word every day—and they’re more easily motivated when this daily discipleship builds on their group experience. If you want your group members to grow beyond what’s discussed in the group, offer them a study and discipleship plan that go hand-in-hand.

LifeWay’s three primary Bible study curriculums each offer such a resource: a Daily Discipleship Guide. These books include three pieces that, each week, work together toward spiritual transformation.

 

1. The group experience. It begins with you as the leader. Each week, you’ll lead the group to discuss God’s Word. You’ll focus on a passage of Scripture. This group time is centered on their discussion and deep dive into the passage.

 

 

2. D Groups. Encourage the individuals in your Bible study group to meet with two other people during the week to dig further on the topic. People call these smaller groups by different names: D Groups, Triads, you name it, but the idea is that they continue to talk it out with only two more people. Over coffee or lunch, they can encourage each other and hold each other accountable as they grow in Christ.

 

 

3. Daily Study. The book provides five days of individual reading. Call it devotions, a quiet time, or time alone with God. This key part of discipleship occurs when your group members take the opportunity to read, think further on the passage, record their thoughts, and take action on their own.

 

Why is all this important? Well…because it’s discipleship. And discipleship doesn’t just happen because the group meets one day a week. Discipleship happens throughout the week. Discipleship happens as we keep reflecting on God’s Word and what He wants us to do in response. You can facilitate your group’s discipleship by giving them a resource like a Daily Discipleship Guide.

For more information:

Bible Studies for Life

Explore the Bible

The Gospel Project

Lynn Pryor is the publishing team leader for Bible Studies for Life. He is serving a Nashville church as their transitional interim pastor. Lynn and his wife, Mary, have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com. Follow him @lynnpryor.

 

Group Leadership

A Word to the One Who Has Failed as a Mother

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Mother’s Day is approaching. If you lead a group that includes moms, share this word with them. 

For those times when you feel like you blew it with your kids—whether you yelled at them, didn’t listen, accidentally played favorites, was too controlling, or was too lenient—you’re not alone. I wonder if the following women ever felt that way. Consider their background.

  1. Tamar was married to a wicked man, so wicked that, well, let’s just say God “took him out of the picture.” Tamar was angry with her father-in-law, so she tricked him into having sex. Tamar raised twin boys in a dysfunctional family setting (Gen. 38).
  1. Rahab was a prostitute in a seriously evil city, Jericho. Now she did a good thing when she protected the Israelite men who had come to spy on Jericho before they attacked (Josh. 2), and she is remembered for her faith and trust (Heb. 11:31). Yet I wonder if guilt over her past affected her parenting, or if her children were laughed at because their mother had turned tricks.
  1. Ruth had a story we love to tell. She was not Jewish, but she embraced the faith of her mother-in-law Naomi. But one part of her story usually gets glossed over. Boaz was a man related to Ruth’s deceased husband, and in their culture, he was a candidate to step in and marry her. But instead of just informing Boaz, Ruth went to where Boaz was sleeping and layed down. Scholars disagree on how much of a sexual advance we should read into this—and if that was Ruth’s intent, Boaz was righteous enough that he did not take advantage of the situation. This may not have been Ruth’s intention, but she sure made it easy for the whole scene to take a bad turn.
  1. Bathsheba had an affair with King David, which resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. After her husband was killed, she married the king and her child died. She had at least one other child, Solomon, but her entrance into motherhood was marred with sin.

There you have it—four women whose background would make them suspect in the local parent-teacher association. Were they good mothers or bad mothers? We don’t know, but I can assure you of one thing:

God used them.

All four of these women are mentioned by Matthew in his account of the genealogy of Jesus. He didn’t mention Eve, Sarah, or other women who surely had better pasts. He mentioned these four women by name. Yes, they were not perfect women—and by extension, we can assume they were not perfect mothers—but God used them to ultimately bring us the Messiah. 

God uses us in spite of our mistakes. If there are things you can correct, do so. If you need to ask for forgiveness, ask. But rest also in God’s grace and ability to work in the lives of your children—even your wayward children.

God is not through with your kids. And He is not through with you.

Happy Mother’s Day.

Lynn Pryor is a team leader for adult resources at LifeWay. He is serving a Nashville church as their transitional interim pastor. Lynn and his wife, Mary, have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com.

 

Church Leadership, Group Leadership

When Mother’s Day Hurts

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Mother’s Day. It’s almost a sacred institution in our culture. If you think I’m exaggerating, ask any preacher who’s ever failed to preach on the topic or have a Mother’s Day emphasis on the second Sunday of May. 

I’m all for honoring mothers, but not everyone looks forward to Mother’s Day, such as:

  • Those who grieve over what once was. Many people still feel the pain of the death of a mother or a child.
  • Those who grieve over what could’ve been. Many women have suffered a miscarriage. (Read The Silence of Miscarriage.)
  • Those who grieve over what never was. Many women want children but have never been able to conceive.

Let’s find ways to encourage people to honor their mothers while being sensitive to those who hurt.

  1. Acknowledge the hurt. Most of those struggling with painful emotions on Mother’s Day do so in silence. They endure the emphasis during a worship service, but it’s not easy. Let’s be open and acknowledge that many of us feel pain when we talk about motherhood. People are encouraged when they don’t feel forgotten or overlooked.
  1. Avoid overstating the worth of mothers. I’d better explain that. Mothers are important. The Bible is clear on the importance of the family, and its pivotal role in all our lives. But consider the message we send when we make motherhood the greatest task a woman can undertake. For those women whom God has not blessed with children, they can be made to feel they have no worth. For women who’ve lost a child through miscarriage or death, they can be led to think their worth has been taken from them.
  1. Make it a day to appreciate our own mothers. To put it bluntly, my role as a church leader is not to honor all mothers; my role is to encourage and challenge everyone to honor their own mothers (and fathers). That’s biblical.

“Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise” (Eph. 6:2).

We can honor our mothers whether they are living or not.

  • Honor is seen in our attitude toward them.
  • Honor is seen in what we do when we’re with them.
  • Honor is seen in how we talk to them or respond to their advice.
  • Honor is seen is how we talk about them.

Make this Mother’s Day a day that honors Christ in the way we both honor mothers and love those who are hurt.

Lynn Pryor is a team leader for adult resources at LifeWay. He serves a Nashville church as their transitional interim pastor. Lynn and his wife, Mary, have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com.

Group Leadership, Uncategorized

Why Should Kindness Be Random?

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I’m not a fan of random acts of kindness. Don’t write me off as a curmudgeon. After all, my dad did raise me right.

  • I hold the door open for people (not just women, thank you).
  • I speak politely to the high school kid working the drive-thru.
  • I rescue baby bunnies from the dietary plans of my beagle.

When a need for kindness is right in front of me, I should take it. That’s biblical.  Followers of Christ are commanded to clothe themselves with kindness (Col. 3:12). Kindness is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).

We’re not being random when we encounter someone who could obviously use some kindness.

Jesus told a story about a man who did an incredible act of kindness for a stranger. The parable of the Good Samaritan is about a Jew and a Samaritan, two men Jesus’ audience would have considered enemies. It was obvious to the Samaritan that the Jew was in a bad way–beaten and robbed–and he helped. That’s true kindness.

Kindness is seeing a need and responding in a good, gracious way that truly benefits the person. That captures the meaning of the Greek word and how it was used in the New Testament.

It may feel kind to us to pay for the coffee of the person in line behind us, but the guy spending $4.75 for a skinny white vanilla latte probably is not in need of someone buying his coffee.

The Samaritan didn’t pay to the lodging bill for everyone; he paid for the one who needed it.

Let’s be kind—but let’s be intentional in our kindness. Do it for those who could use the help or who need the encouragement. Don’t just be nice; through your intentional act of kindness, build a relationship. Show them the love of Christ in the process. And do it to honor Jesus.

 

Lynn Pryor is a team leader for adult resources at LifeWay. He and his wife, Mary, lead a Bible study group for young adults and have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com.

 

 

 

Group Leadership

A Great Tool for Scripture Memorization

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One of the best disciplines for spiritual growth is Scripture memorization—yet so few of us do it. As I challenge people to start memorizing Scripture, one of the most common excuses I hear is: “I just can’t memorize anything.”

Really? Yet in 60 seconds I can get them to recite a whole litany of things from phone numbers, Social Security numbers, birthdays, and Cyndi Lauper songs. This exercise underscores two truths about memorization:

  1. We memorize what is important to us.
  2. We memorize through repetition.

Those two truths apply to learning Scripture. No magic formula exists. It takes work and discipline to review, but the work is eased by the fact that I love God’s Word. And its benefits have been incredible. Over and over again, I’ve been able to recall verses that encourage an individual or answer a question from someone in my Bible study group. And of course, there is the personal benefit David noted:

“I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you” (Psalm 119:11).

I have stumbled on to a great app to aid me in my memorization. Several apps exist. I know. I’ve tried them, and my response has been …meh. But ScriptureTyper filled in the gaps between a mediocre app and a good one.

  1. Translation. ScriptureTyper lets me choose the translation. And they have plenty of translation options.
  2. Learning. The app offers several aids to help you learn the verse. Some are tedious in my opinion, but others are quite easy to use. It even offers audio review. Your learning style has options.
  3. Review. This is the best feature. Initially memorizing something is not as hard as it sounds, but the key is in the review. I’ve memorized whole sections of Scripture for use in a sermon, but because I only used it once, I couldn’t recall it a month later. ScriptureTyper automates the process, and you can also set it up with reminders. The app keeps track of your reviews, and it gradually lengthens the rate of review over time. Or you can set the review to your own schedule and pace.
  4. Groups. I have not used this feature, but you can join a group or set up your own group to memorize and review together. This is a great feature for an accountability group.

ScriptureTyper is a free app, but you can purchase an upgrade that comes with all the bells and whistles. I’m a ridiculously cheap person who hesitates to spend 99 cents for an app, so for me to fork out $9.99 for ScriptureTyper PRO was a big deal—but it’s been well worth it.

I challenge you and your group to make 2018 a year that you begin memorizing Scripture.

Lynn Pryor is a team leader for adult resources at LifeWay. He and his wife, Mary, lead a Bible study group for young adults and have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com.

Group Leadership

My Beef With Santa

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DISCLAIMER. I am not a Scrooge. I enjoy Christmas.  I am not opposed to kids and families enjoying the story of Santa, reindeer, trips down chimneys, and Buddy the Elf.

What’s not to love about Christmas?

But I don’t love what we do with Santa Claus.

First, there’s the whole “Santa Claus is real” thing. Why do we keep insisting with our children that Santa Claus is real, even when their young minds see some of the inconsistencies in the story?

Before you scroll down to the comments section and leave a scathing remark that I don’t like children: we did the whole Santa Claus routine when our sons were little… and I plan to do it again when grandkids enter the picture. We had fun with Santa Claus—as a story.

Did I rob my kids of any joy? Far from it. It’s no different than the way we enjoyed The Wizard of Oz without once thinking it was real. I never lied to my sons.

“Dad, is Santa real?”

“He is just a fun story we tell. Now let’s put some milk and cookies by the fireplace and enjoy the story of Santa and his reindeer.”

The thing I really dislike, though, is the way parents use Santa to make kids behave. You know, the whole naughty or nice list.

Consider the words of my least favorite Christmas song:

He’s making a list
And checking it twice
Gonna find out who’s naughty and nice
Santa Claus is coming to town

He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake!

We’ve made Santa a little too godlike.

Because we’ve painted Santa to be godlike and all-knowing, we’ve painted the wrong picture of God. Too many people already view God as a keeper of a naughty or nice list. Be good, go to heaven. Do more bad than good, and you go to hell. Most religions and Eastern philosophies follow that thought, which is why a person has to work hard to make it to heaven.

To be fair, the Bible also calls us to be good to go to heaven, but with one big difference. God calls us to always be good, to never falter or fail. God’s standard is perfection, and it is a demanding standard that far exceeds what any other religion calls for. And it’s a standard we can’t meet. Only the perfectly righteous make it to heaven, and we don’t cut it. None of us.

The good news in all this is God’s love. He knows no one can meet that standard, so Jesus met it for us. That’s the whole point of the cross. He met the standard for us… and took the punishment we rightfully deserve for not meeting that standard.

Scripture calls this justification. You may have heard people define being justified as “just as if I’d never sinned.” (Unlike Santa, Jesus removes us from the naughty list.) But justification carries an additional truth; it also means “just as if I’d always done right.” (Jesus puts us on the nice list!)

In your group, discuss ways parents can help their kids have fun with the story of Santa Claus, without subtly teaching bad theology! Some ideas for discussion are:

  • How do we help our kids separate the fiction of Santa Claus from the truth of Jesus Christ?
  • What are some ideas to avoid when dealing with the traditions surrounding Santa Claus?
  • What are some good principles we can derive from the story of Santa with which we can communicate biblical truth? (Example: the generosity practiced by the historical figure Nicolas).

Lynn Pryor is a team leader for adult resources at LifeWay. He and his wife, Mary, lead a Bible study group for young adults and have survived raising two sons to adulthood. A graduate of Southwestern Seminary, Lynn has previously pastored and served churches in Texas. Read more from his blog at lynnhpryor.com.

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