When I first started at my church, I had no clue what I was doing with preteens. I remember first walking into a sunday school class on the first day and thinking "these students are KIDS"! It was a big moment for me though, because I slowly warmed up to the idea of preteen ministry, and have learned to love it.
One thing that is POWERFUL for preteens is video clips. It's a rare occasion when I give some sort of message that doesn't involve at least a clip at the beginning to introduce something, or a 3 minute clip to really drive home a point. However, with preteens being preteens, you are rather limited with what sort of movie clips you can show them. However, here are some that clips I've shown with the topic and have worked really well.
Toy Story - friendship
The Lion King - selfless sacrifice
The Incredibles - family
Kicking and Screaming - letting sports control you
Wall-E - serving the community
Hannah Montana - Being genuine
Up - life is a journey
Shrek - openness
Finding Nemo - home
AND MORE...
Pop culture can be a great vehicle for displaying biblical and Christian truth and meaning, but at times it must be challenged and cultivated. Make sure you aren't doing yourself more harm than good with showing a "good clip" that needs a lot of time to explain why we as Christians can't think or act like that!
