Reaching children is a team effort that involves parents, teachers and the wider Christian community. The ministry of a teacher starts with their own spiritual growth. If you're a teacher, how can you touch your children, as well as their parents, with God's love, if you aren't taking care of your own spiritual health? Here are a few ways you can lead by example as you minister to kids and their families:

Begin with prayer

Consider these steps to reach out to your children through prayer.
• Pray for guidance and direction in your teaching.
• Pray daily for your students and their families.
• Invite parents and adult Sunday school classes to be "prayer partners" who will pray for your class throughout the year. Let your children know people are praying for them by name.
• Guide children to recognize prayers of praise, of confession, and of petition. By using the ACTS or PRAY method you can introduce children (really everyone) to an easy model for prayer.
• Expose your children to a variety of kinds of prayer experiences:

*Depending on the ages of your children, encourage them to give musical expression to their prayers by singing or by playing an instrument. Invite your children to speak, draw, write, or help them use sign language to "sign" a prayer. Give your children opportunities to pray as a class, individually, silently, or out loud. Use sentence prayers and "breath" prayers to help children understand
• Set aside moments for the children to name people and problems and to actually pray for those requests together. Suggest that the children pray for each other during the week. Purchase magnet strips and make a prayer list of everyone's name, attach the strip to the back, and let each child have a list for their refrigerator door.
• Weave prayer, intentional as well as spontaneous, within your class time.
• Listen to what children pray about, this will help you understand each child better.
• Pray and take time to talk with your children about the Lord's Prayer. Let your children know that through the Lord's Prayer, Jesus helps them to know how we need to pray and what we need to pray about.
• Teach children how to pray by praying yourself. Model prayer in the classroom, use sentence prayers, have prayers on the wall that you all can pray together. Remember one way we learn is by doing!
• Recognize and give thanks to God for the special blessings you and your children have. Celebrate and give thanks for answered prayers!

Use the Bible as your guide

As the Word of God, the Bible tells the story of God's love for us, and guidance on how God's children are to live. More than that, the Bible invites us to personally know God and Jesus. Through the Bible, we never stop learning or growing.

So instill in your children that the Bible is meant to be a "hands-on" book. Ask the children in your class to bring their Bibles to Sunday school and church. If someone needs a Bible, talk with your minister about purchasing some for them. Let young children hold the Bible as you read from it. Older children can read from the Bible, look up passages, and examine a Bible concordance or atlas.

Help children relate what they are learning to their own lives. Help them understand that the Bible, although written years ago, is a book for all times.

Recognize that, besides rote memorization, children learn Scripture through carefully selected songs sung repeatedly and with enthusiasm. Along with stories read and re-told in their own words.

Help them experience God's love through reading scriptures that emphasize this promise and remind them that God loves them. You can emphasize that every life is a gift from God, and that each person is one-of-a-kind.

So show that love, involve children in love-in-action: ways your children can reach out in love to others. Together, choose and complete a special project of ministry. Put that love in action by choosing a class mission project.

Share with your children what God's love has meant in your life. Tell them ways you have experienced God's love through family, friends, and your church.

Set a loving example

Keep in mind that you will teach children the most by your example, be it good or bad. You can demonstrate warmth and acceptance to every child: note something special about each student. But be firm and loving when you must enforce rules. In every contact with the children, be a "window" through which children see Christ.

Recognize that we often make the greatest impact through our daily, seemingly small, acts of kindness as opposed to "scattered" major ones. Remember your teaching extends far beyond the Sunday school room as children observe you in other areas of church and community life.

Communicate with the parents

Frequently your curriculum will have specific articles and suggested activities designed to help parents. Make a special effort to see that parents receive copies and know their significance. Inform children's parents about the biblical themes and related activities. Encourage parents to be involved by sharing a special talent, coordinating a class project, and by visiting class.

You can also help parents initiate a study /prayer group to give each other support and share ways to help their children grow in their faith. Lastly, direct their attention to other groups or church programs focused on parenting and teaching Christian values.

For leaders, there's not a distinct line drawn between public and private spirituality. That's especially true for teachers of children and youth. Kids take their cues from adults on most everything, including faith. The best way to build a kid's faith is to make building your own a top priority.