Editor’s note: Whether you are new to the Reformed Presbyterian Church or a lifetime member, we hope this new column engages you with its brief look at history in each issue. If you have ideas for future topics, email the author via info@rpwitness.org.

Since the 1980s, God has permitted the RPCNA to grow significantly. But between the 1890s and the 1980s we shrank significantly, and we no longer have churches in several provinces and states. We even had an entire presbytery in Vermont! Let’s look briefly at churches that once existed in states and provinces where we currently have no presence.

Nova Scotia. In 1831, the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (RPCI) sent two ministers as missionaries to the Atlantic colonies. One of them, William Sommerville, settled near Grand-Pré and founded churches at Cornwallis and Horton. The Cornwallis church lasted until the 1950s.

New Brunswick. The first Covenanter settlers came here before 1820, and they were served by the missionaries that also served Nova Scotia. St. John was the largest of the New Brunswick churches, but it began dwindling in the 1890s and disappeared in the early 1920s.

Manitoba. Many RPCI members had settled near Winnipeg by 1910, and they organized in 1914. By the 1930s, it was Central Canada Presbytery’s strongest congregation, but a fierce dispute split the congregation in the early 1930s. Isolated from the rest of Iowa Presbytery, the congregation dissolved in the mid-1960s.

Saskatchewan. A few Reformed Presbyterians migrated to Regina by 1907, and by 1910 there were seven families. Membership soon surpassed 60, but infrequent preaching in the 1920s saw shrinkage, and the last remnants disappeared around 1940. Alaska. Robert Tweed pioneered work in Anchorage in 1979. Pacific Coast Presbytery hoped to rely on this church for missions to Alaska’s Asian and Eskimo populations, but the group remained small. It disorganized in 1987.

Oregon. Pacific Coast Presbytery founded a congregation in Portland in 1911. Their numbers were always small, but they remained active on the city’s northern side until 1968.

New Mexico. Retired minister Boyd White moved to Truth or Consequences in 1948. He began to plant a church—the denomination’s first new church since the 1930s—and a small group gathered. They closed soon after White’s death in 1978.

Nebraska. Kansas Presbytery organized three small churches south of Grand Island on the Kansas border around 1880: rural Eckley, rural Beulah, and in the town of Superior. Eckley soon closed, while the other two continued until merging in 1960. The resulting Superior-Beulah congregation, originally large, gradually dwindled until closing in 1993. Its building is now home to an Evangelical Free church.

Minnesota. Four RPCNA settlements formed in Minnesota after 1865. By far the longest lived was rural Lake Reno, near Glenwood, in the state’s center. Isolation eventually led to a long period with no pastor. The congregation closed in 1980.

Wisconsin. Members from New York settled in Vernon, outside Milwaukee, in the 1840s. They built a building in 1853 and were organized in 1856. In the 20th Century, they started shrinking, and they disorganized in 1940. The building still stands and has been named a historic site.

Tennessee. Many families from South Carolina settled near Fayetteville (near Huntsville, Ala.) soon after 1800. But the prevalence of slavery prompted most of them to move to Indiana in 1832, and the remaining members left in the 1833 split.

South Carolina. Hundreds of Covenanters started to settle northern South Carolina around 1750. They were active supporters of the colonial cause during the Revolution, and their opposition to slavery prompted virtually all of the members to move north in the early 19th Century.

West Virginia. Pittsburgh Presbytery organized a small congregation at Roney’s Point, east of Wheeling, in 1861. Although a small group, they remained active until 1906.

Delaware. At the end of 1832, Philadelphia Presbytery organized a congregation in Wilmington. In 1833, the RPCNA split in two, and this congregation followed their pastor out of the denomination.

Connecticut. In July 1986, three families started meeting for worship in the northwestern community of Winsted. This new work was short lived, as disagreements led two of the families to depart the following April.

Vermont. When the RPCNA was new, northeastern Vermont was one of our strongest areas. The first settlement, at Ryegate, was organized in the 1790s with branches in several nearby towns. It endured until the 1910s, and our last Vermont church, in nearby Barnet, lasted for another half century.

Maine. In 1859, the RPCI’s mission presbytery in the Maritime Provinces formed a congregation at Houlton, on the New Brunswick border. They were vacant for many years, and after their building was destroyed in a storm in 1895, the remaining members seemingly gave up.

Although we’ve lost an RP presence in these places, God can help us return. Since 2010, we’ve regained congregations in Alberta, Kentucky, Missouri, Texas, and Virginia. Let’s pray that God will let us continue.

Nathaniel Pockras is an electronic resources librarian at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. He is a member of Grace and Truth RPC, a mission church of the Presbytery of the Alleghenies in Harrisonburg, Va.