A Southern Baptist megachurch in Alabama is offering families photos with Santa during their Santa Spectacular, called Christmas Over the Mountain, a telling sign of the times when even so-called churches are replacing Christ with cultural idols during the Christmas season. Hunter Street Baptist Church in Hoover, Alabama is hosting this event, signaling a concerning shift in focus from the birth of Christ to secular festivities.

Hunter Street Baptist Church has a history of engaging with its community in ways that do not distinguish themselves as separate from the world and the Santa Spectacular event raises serious questions about the church’s commitment to the gospel. The website for the event is completely devoid of any mention of Jesus Christ but has plenty of information about Santa.

This single Santa event is representative of a deeper, more seductive issue within modern Christianity—the idolization of Santa and the sidelining of Jesus Christ during the Christmas season. Churches, which should be guardians of biblical truth, are increasingly succumbing to the lure of cultural relevance, opting for events that emphasize secular traditions over the profound theological significance of the Incarnation. The Summit Church, pastored by former SBC president, JD Greear, is closing its doors two weeks in a row during Christmas so that it can rent out the local performing arts venue and put on a Christmas spectacular for pagans.

The prominence of such idols as Santa Claus in Christian celebrations is a troubling indicator of the Church’s drift from its foundational truths and abandonment of the gospel. Santa Claus, a figure rooted in folklore and commercialism, has become such an idol that his presence overshadows the very reason for the season: the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. This shift from Christocentric worship to Santa-centric festivities reflects a troubling compromise, a bending to the whims of a culture that prefers the comfortable and familiar over the transformative and challenging message of the Gospel—it is indicative of the priorities of the people who call themselves “Christians” in these places that they call “churches.” It is exemplary of what the Apostle Paul referred to as “disgraceful, underhanded ways” and “practicing cunning” in 2 Corinthians 4:2.

This distortion is not merely a matter of preference or style, it is a theological aberration. By allowing Santa to take center stage, churches are contributing to the secularization of a critical historical event in Christianity—the incarnation. They propagate the notion that the gospel is more about worldly joy and materialism than about the miraculous birth of Christ, who came to redeem humanity from sin and death. This misrepresentation of the incarnation, or as Paul says, “tampering with God’s word,” diminishes the profound spiritual significance of the holiday and undermines the church’s witness to the world.

By promoting Santa Claus over Jesus Christ, these churches are failing in their primary mission: to proclaim the Gospel in a straightforward, unequivocal way. The Christmas season offers a unique opportunity to share the story of God’s love and redemption through the birth of His Son. When churches prioritize cultural icons like Santa Claus, they miss a crucial opportunity to share this life-changing message. They risk leaving their congregations and communities with a hollow and incomplete understanding of Christmas, devoid of its true joy and hope.