At 9:00 a.m. on October 20, 1975, the certificate of incorporation for Great Commission Publications was filed with the Delaware Secretary of State. On that same morning in Orlando, Florida, I was likely in my mother’s arms as a 6-month-old baby, eating breakfast, unaware of this auspicious event happening miles away.

In God’s providence, 2025 marks both my 50th year of life and my 23rd year with GCP.  The mysteries of God’s sovereign purposes—the faithfulness of my mother raising me as a covenant child and her Covenant College friend Donna Williams working at GCP when I was moving to Atlanta—has led me to this point. Over the past 23 years, I have been mentored and discipled at work by Donna and the late Mark Lowrey, a humble servant-leader and GCP’s former executive director. 

Now as we celebrate God’s faithfulness to his church through the work of GCP, I see how our heavenly Father has sustained and grown this unlikely joint venture of the PCA  and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and look forward to where he is leading us.

By the Grace of God It Was Done

GCP’s theology, operating principles, and distinctives are based on the Bible from a Reformed perspective as taught in the Westminster Standards. That commitment came from the values the OPC developed for its Sunday school materials beginning in the 1940s. Starting with senior high in 1961, the OPC developed a complete Sunday school curriculum in 12 years. 

The author of the booklet “The Orthodox Presbyterian Church 1936–1986” describes this accomplishment: 

“What a tremendous undertaking! No denomination of the size of the OPC could possibly accomplish what needed to be done, or support the effort according to the best advice of experts. But by the grace of God it was done!”

Before the PCA was formed, the OPC had not only laid the groundwork for excellent Christian education materials, but also produced the beloved “Trinity Hymnal,” still in use in its 1990 edition today.

Jesus’ Great Commission

From the beginning, the OPC recognized the need for its materials to serve not only its own churches but also to appeal to the broader Reformed and evangelical community. Their objective was worldwide outreach through Christian education. 

The Committee on Christian Education put it this way: “If the OPC had thought that its projected curriculum would be of use only within its own congregations, it would have never undertaken the project. In the providence of God, we have initiated the program, but we have done it on behalf of all who love the Reformed faith.” 

In the first year after the curriculum for all 12 grades was in print, 78% of the churches using GCP curriculum were outside the OPC. 

The operating name “Great Commission Publications” proved to be a wise choice for this global vision. The nondenominational name made it easy for the GCP’s materials to be used in any Bible-believing church. GCP’s curriculum is faithful to the Scriptures while maintaining a distinctive focus on five key areas: the sovereignty of God, the centrality of Jesus in the unfolding story of salvation, the covenantal focus, a redemptive-historical approach, and the crucial connection between church and family. 

Parents, teachers, volunteers, and ministry leaders in diverse contexts looking for biblically-sound resources discover Reformed and covenantal theology each time they interact with GCP’s material. These Reformed distinctives allowed the PCA to partner with the OPC to produce doctrinally-suitable curriculum. 

Over my years at GCP, I’ve come to see how Jesus’ Great Commission to his disciples impacted even me. I grew up in a Christian and Missionary Alliance church, went to a Baptist university, and was not even looking for a Presbyterian church or ministry job when my husband and I moved to Atlanta. But God used GCP to bring my love for him and my editing experiences to this position, which led us to join a PCA church. 

Over the years, my time at GCP has been a theological education that paid me instead of me paying for it! My work has helped me to embrace and love Reformed theology. Even though children might not remember much of their Sunday school instruction, we at GCP pray that each child who is under the teaching of our materials will come to know and love God through his Word, grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, and embrace the blessings of the covenant.

Christ-Centered Resources for All Ages

Over my years at GCP, we’ve not only expanded and improved on our Sunday school curriculum, we’ve also added catechetical curriculum, a “Pilgrim’s Progress” book and curriculum, and digital versions of “Trinity Hymnal.” Since 2003, our “First Catechism” alone has touched the lives of at least 315,000 children as young as age two. 

GCP serves not only our parent denominations but hundreds more congregations across the Reformed tradition. We weekly reach more than 3,500 churches in the United States, 20% of whose congregants are children. 

GCP partners with a diversity of churches and is focused on a three-pronged initiative over the next five years: revised “Show Me Jesus” curriculum, a nationwide network of regional trainers to equip local churches, and new tools for parents to fuel robust family worship and discipleship.

We are excited to announce that our new “Show Me Jesus Preschool” curriculum will be available for fall 2025. This two-year program is flexible for four- and five-year-olds and will use the English Standard Version Bible translation, featuring captivating new illustrations and new digital resources for in-class and family discipleship experiences. 

As “Show Me Jesus Preschool” is published over the next two years, we will follow it with new editions for younger elementary (1st–2nd grades) and middle elementary (3rd–4th grades). We hope we can revise the toddler curriculum during these next few years as well. We are also planning to launch new music resources to prepare children to be active worshipers on the Lord’s Day and add a new digital platform for teachers and parents will help facilitate more discipleship opportunities.   

I’ve dubbed this year of 50th celebrations as my year of Jubilee. The old covenant Sabbath cycles kept alive the hope for the reign of Jesus the Messiah. As new covenant people, we know that our Savior has now come, and we anticipate with hope that many more will know the jubilee of his salvation until he comes again.

Heather Cossar is the Director of Content Strategy and Publishing at Great Commission Publications.