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What the Happy Meal Teaches Us about Kids Ministry

Monday, October 28, 2024

The KidzMatter Blog/What the Happy Meal Teaches Us about Kids Ministry

I have a confession: I like McDonald’s. I know it’s not the best food; it’s not even the best fast food. It’s been eclipsed by other chains (sorry if you’re on Team McDonald’s and disagree). Usually, I’ll choose to go somewhere else, but there are indeed times when I find myself wanting, even craving, the Golden Arches. Why? Largely, because of the Happy Meal®.

What’s not to love about the Happy Meal? It’s a child-sized meal with a toy packaged in a fun, colorful box at a reasonable price. And love it, we surely have. Each year, over 1.2 billion Happy Meals are sold around the world. But the Happy Meal isn’t about revenue generation (at least at the time it’s sold) as much as it’s about marketing. It goes back to why I find myself drawn to McDonald’s at times.

I don’t buy Happy Meals now (I’d probably need three), but I go to McDonald’s partly because of the Happy Meals I enjoyed as a kid. It was always a good day when I got to go to McDonald’s instead of staying home to eat liver and asparagus. I got a cheeseburger and those wonderfully salty French fries instead. As if that weren’t enough, I got a toy too—and Happy Meal toys used to be amazing. What these Happy Meals did—and this is the marketing genius behind them—is tether McDonald’s with something good and comforting in my mind and heart. You see, Happy Meals aren’t designed to draw a customer for a day; they make customers for a lifetime.

So, what does this have to do with kids ministry? Quite a bit. You see, the McDonald’s marketing team understands how imprinting something on a child can leave a lasting mark. Now, McDonald’s doesn’t exactly have altruistic motives. They want to make a profit for their shareholders. To be fair, we can’t fault them for that. But we, on the other hand, are pursuing the absolute highest good. We don’t work for a fast-food kingdom; we work for God’s kingdom. We’re not trying to encourage people to feast on burgers and fries; we’re calling on people to feast on the bread of life. So, with that goal in mind, here are three ministry takeaways we can draw from McDonald’s.

1: Provide Positive Experiences

This really cuts to the core of McDonald’s objective. Each time we gather, we want to do our best to provide a memorable experience, one that will leave a lasting love for church in the minds and hearts of our kids. We want them simply to feel good about being part of our ministries. This doesn’t mean we need to compromise on the gospel even an inch—we cannot and should not. However, this means we prioritize engaging our creativity and maximizing our resources—plentiful or scarce—to do the best in our context.

2: Provide Positive Relationships

What we do in ministry is certainly important but the relationships we develop with our kids (and families) is more important. Ultimately, ministry is about people, not activities. All we do is to point to a Person—Jesus Christ. The church isn’t an activity or a location, but rather a gathered people. So, we want to do all we can to be as welcoming, loving, grace-saturated, encouraging, and supportive (simply Christlike) as we can. No matter the role, the assignment is the same. Be the kind of people who leave a positive mark on our kids for a lifetime.

3: Provide Positive Bibles

The first two tips are on the nose concerning our kids ministries but this third one might be most important. Research shows that Bible engagement is the single greatest indicator of spiritual well-being. So, the absolute best thing we can do for our kids is to help them develop a love for God’s Word. Part of that is how we talk about and teach from the Bible in our ministries. Another part is doing what we can to get the best Bibles into their hands. I’m biased—I’m a Bible publisher—but I can tell you we are blessed with an abundance of quality English-language Bible translations and amazing kid-friendly printed Bibles. Invest the time and energy to research both, and find the Bible or Bibles you think are the best of the best. Then do all you can to get those into the hands of each of your kids. Let that be your “Happy Meal.”

Brian Dembowczyk (Ph.D., Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the associate publisher at Thomas Nelson Bibles. He previously served as managing editor of The Gospel Project and in full-time ministry. He is the author of Gospel Centered Kids Ministry (B&H) and Family Discipleship that Works (IVP).

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Membership with KidzMatter PRO strengthens your skills and links you with a thriving community committed to empowering kidmin leaders like you.