• Remember each young person on his or her birthday. Although many adults say they would prefer not to be reminded, most children enjoy the thoughtfulness of a card or a phone call on their birthday. Note the birthdays of your group in your calendar and send cards or make calls on their birthdays. These simple, inexpensive acts let your children know you care.
  
  
• Attend an event in which your children are participating. Today’s children are busy, like everyone else. Little league, dance, music, and a host of other extracurricular activities keep children very involved. Try to attend at least one event per year for each member of your group. Show up at a music concert or a ball game and let them know you’re behind them all the way. (If you have kids of your own, you can bring one along and make an evening or afternoon of it).
  
  
• Keep in touch with infrequent participants. If a child misses two or three Sundays in a row, make contact. It’s a way to say "we miss you" and ?you’re special.? It’s also a way of staying up-to-date about events in their lives.
  
  
• Make a house visit sometime during the year (ideally before the beginning of the Sunday School year). Meet their parents, siblings, and pets. Let them show you their room. Learn about their favorite teachers, animals, and hobbies. This will help build the relationship beyond the classroom.
  
  
• Pray daily for those you teach. In the time you set aside for personal prayer, Bible study, and reflection, remember each person in your group by name. Pray particularly for those with special needs.
  

Follow these suggestions or think of other simple, effective ways of nurturing relationships with those you teach. As relationships deepen, you will find that teaching becomes more joyous.

Tom Allen is the Sunday School Director at First Baptist Church Southern Pines in North Carolina.