Celebrate Heritage Sunday on May 18
Presbyterian Historical Society offers downloadable bulletin inserts to help congregations take a peek at the past
Mark your calendars and download your bulletin inserts — May 18 is Heritage Sunday.
Every year, Presbyterians come together to celebrate Heritage Sunday, a day to reflect upon and learn more about the long and rich history of the Presbyterian Church. Falling on the Sunday closest to the 21st of May — the opening date of the inaugural General Assembly in the United States in 1789 — Heritage Sunday provides us with the opportunity to peek into the past and learn about a figure, event, group, or moment in time that impacted the denomination’s history. The Presbyterian Historical Society offers church bulletin inserts to commemorate Heritage Sunday, with a new topic chosen each year. These files are made available to the public for free — simply download and print them at home or print and prep them to slide into your church bulletin!
This year, we’re joining a celebration already in motion. 2025 marks 75 years since the 1950 founding of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. The organization was the result of 27 Protestant and Eastern Orthodox denominations and eight ecumenical agencies joining together. Amongst those groups were three Presbyterian denominations.
The National Council of Churches continues today with the PC(USA) as one of its member communions. Presbyterians have been prominent leaders of the NCC. The most well-known is Eugene Carson Blake (1906-1985) who served as president of the NCC in the mid-1950s while also Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A.
The Presbyterian Historical Society is the official archives of the National Council of Churches. Records at PHS contain detailed information on NCC programs, including the international relief agency Church World Service, which was part of the NCC until 2000; A Christian Ministry in the National Parks from the 1950s and early 1960s; the 1960s Commission on Religion and Race; and the Burned Churches Project from the mid-1990s, among many others.
Access the print-ready downloadable bulletin inserts and learn more about the history of the NCC’s founding on PHS’s Heritage Sunday webpage. Visit the NCC’s website to learn more about the 75th anniversary celebrations.
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