What a Wheaties Box Can Teach You About Children's Ministry

Wheaties...the breakfast of champions.  There's a valuable lesson we can learn from the famous cereal box.

They are well known for placing athletes on the front of their boxes.  Let's take a stroll down memory lane.  Ready?  Here we go.

Lou Gehrig 1934










Hank Greenberg - 1939










Otto Graham - 1951










Bart Starr - 1964










Mary Lou Retton - 1984










Michael Jordan - 1991
Tim Duncan - 2005










Lindsey Vonn - 2010










Adrian Peterson - 2013










Here's what we can learn.

The cereal inside stays the same...but the packaging that contains the cereal changes to stay relevant with the culture.  The athletes are people that today's kids recognize. 

What if they had decided in 1939 that they didn't want to change?
What if they had decided in 1951 that they were comfortable with keeping Otto Gram on the box long term?
What if they had decided in 1991 that trying something new wasn't worth the risk?

In Children's Ministry, our food (God's Word) never changes.  But the way it's packaged and presented has to change to be relevant to the kids we are trying to reach TODAY.

I'm thankful for the songs that were played in Sunday School in the 1950's.
I'm thankful for the flannel-graphs that were used to teach kids in the 1960's.
I'm thankful for the overhead projectors that were used in the 1970's to help kids memorize Bible verses.

But it's not 1950, 1960, or 1970.  It's 2013. 

Which box reflects your Children's Ministry? 
Is it time to repackage?
Is it time for some changes?

Think about it.  Too much is at stake not to.