VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 4/21/15)—Baptist Heritage Sunday will be celebrated on Sunday, May 17, 2015.  It is a time to remember earlier people of faith.  In Hebrews 11 and 12,  Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac,  and Rahab are listed in the “cloud of witnesses” whose faith, collectively and individually, reminds us of God’s love and faithfulness.  This list of witnesses also includes the less famous and more recent:  John Mason Peck, Joanna P. Moore, Walter Rauschenbusch and Helen Barrett Montgomery.

American Baptist Historical Society has resources for your church to use on Baptist Heritage Sunday to highlight the Baptist history.  We also have resources for churches that want to collect and organize their own local church history.  Bulletin inserts for Baptist Heritage Day tell about various members of the ‘cloud of witnesses’ and are available on the ABHS web site at abhsarchives.org/for-churches/.

ABHS also has a Doing Your Own Church History packet which can be ordered for $15 through the web site, or by emailing ABHS@abhsarchives.org.

Since 1853 the American Baptist Historical Society has collected the stories of American Baptists whose lives are witnesses to God’s power and faithfulness.  These collections include personal papers, missionary correspondence and original church records.

Your church also has stories to share of faithful ministry.  Remembering these people of faith, the writer of Hebrews argues, helps us claim their faith as our own.  Surrounded by these witnesses, we too can “run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith.” (12:2)

American Baptist Churches is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with over 5,200 local congregations comprised of 1.3 million members, across the United States and Puerto Rico, all engaged in God’s mission around the world.