Should You Use Music for Preteens?

In the title I posed the question should you use music for preteens? I firmly believe the answer is YES! 

Music is such a powerful resource. It creates an engaging environment, and with Christian music, you can subtly reach preteens' ears.

Sunday mornings from 9:15am until about 9:35am we have a kind of free time in our ministry. All the preteens are still arriving, and the others are playing various games like Giant Checkers or Wii. While everyone is busy playing games and catching up with their friends, I always have music playing in the background. It really creates a fun atmosphere with messages reinforcing Biblical Scripture.

I absolutely love using Pandora, the internet radio service. It's basically a radio-based program that creates a never-ending playlist of songs based on a genre you specify! You can pick a song, artist or album and Pandora will play music similar to the original genre selected. You have the option of "liking" or "disliking" each song. If you click dislike, then that song will never be played again.

It is free, but it will pause to play ads every now and then. I decided to purchase a year long subscription for $30 and I completely believe it is worth it!

The station I use the most for our preteens is "We Shine Radio" (made from the song We Shine by StellarKart) mixed with Group 1 Crew. It only plays Christian music and it's fun, upbeat and engaging for our preteens.

Also, a friend suggested I try Spotify as well. I am still learning about this internet radio service, but so far I really like it as well. His name is Nick Bremmer, you should check out his blog about Preteen Ministry.

Click here for Nick's Blog 

If you are looking for an idea to immediately spice up your Preteen Ministry, I would highly suggest incorporating music that is not only relevant to your preteens, but is Gospel-centered.