VALLEY FORGE, PA (ABNS 4/22/14)—Baptist Heritage Sunday will be celebrated on Sunday, May 18, 2014.  It is a time to remember earlier people of faith.  In Hebrews 11 and 12, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Rahab are listed in the “cloud of witnesses” whose faith, collectively and individually, reminds us of God’s power.  This list of witnesses also includes the less famous and more recent:  Adoniram and Ann, Sarah and Emily Judson, as well as the missionaries of the American Baptist Home and Foreign Missionary Societies.

American Baptist Historical Society has resources for your church to use on Baptist Heritage Sunday and as you collect and organize your 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, www.abhsarchives.org.

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, often from the records of local churches, the stories of American Baptists whose lives are witnesses to God’s power and faithfulness.  These collections include information about sacrificial pastors, female mite societies, and youth ministries

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)”

–Deborah Bingham Van Broekhoven,  Executive Director,  American Baptist Historical Society

American Baptist Churches USA is one of the most diverse Christian denominations today, with more than 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.