For the first several decades that RP settlements existed in America, there were very few ministers; so the work of the church was performed almost completely by farmers and craftsmen. However, the church’s few ministers served extremely prominent roles, and their work left an extremely large influence on future generations. This month, we look at the life and work of John Black, the first minister to serve west of the Appalachians.

Black was born in 1768 into an RP family in the village of Ahoghill in Ireland, a few miles south of the Culleybackey congregation. After graduating from the University of Glasgow, he taught at a school and began studying for the ministry. His plans were interrupted by the 1798 rebellion of the United Irishmen, which many RPs strongly supported, and he fled to America as a suspected rebel. After he taught in Philadelphia, Pa., for several months, the newly reorganized Reformed Presbytery sent him to Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1799.

When ordained in 1800, he was installed as pastor of the “Ohio” congregation, which oversaw all members west of the mountains—theoretically west to the Pacific! Most of his members were in western Pennsylvania, but it was still a massive responsibility. Today, Google Maps estimates that a circuit of his peripheral congregations—Austintown (Ohio), Canonsburg, New Alexandria, and Slippery Rock—­requires nearly five hours of driving, and Austintown and New Alexandria are 100 miles apart. Furthermore, the rest of the RP Church lay across the mountains, hundreds of miles away.

Black served as moderator of presbytery in 1801 and began serving as clerk of presbytery in 1802. The church was then writing new confessional documents, and he composed a significant portion of the original Testimony.

Western immigration caused his pastoral labors to grow beyond his abilities. Presbytery organized the outlying societies as separate congregations in 1806, leaving him to serve the mushrooming societies in the Pittsburgh area.

Over the coming decades, Black remained active beyond his congregation. From 1820 to 1832, he taught classical languages at the future University of Pittsburgh; he was president of a local college for a year; and he remained clerk (first of presbytery, then of Synod from 1809) for decades.

When the RP Church divided in 1833, Black—like most of the other veteran ministers—adhered to what was known as the “New Light” side. By now, he was in his mid-60s and disinclined to undertake new responsibilities. He remained clerk of Synod for many years and pastor of his congregation until his death in 1849.