The RPCNA has no congregations in the northern Great Plains or northern Great Lakes regions. But did you know that there were once churches in Minnesota? Let’s look at their history.

Most of our Minnesota congregations were the result of a settlement in the state’s west. The founders were migrants from the Illinois and Indiana congregations who came north in the 1860s and settled near Lake Reno, in rural Pope County several miles outside the city of Glenwood. By 1869, the settlement had grown significantly. When they were organized in October of that year, there were 33 communicant members, and 3 elders were elected. Despite their isolation, they were served by experienced ministers D. C. Faris and Robert Hutcheson, who stayed for a combined six years—truly exceptional for a poor frontier congregation. Over the decades, they continued growing, surpassing 100 members by 1900. For many years, they worshiped by the lake, but their historic building was destroyed by a fire in 1943. Gradually, their rural location and their isolation from the rest of the church became major problems; children moved away, and they were so far from the rest of the Iowa Presbytery that assistance was extremely difficult. The congregation dissolved in 1980.

At the same time Lake Reno was starting, a smaller congregation was starting in Todd County, about 30 miles from Glenwood. More pioneers from Illinois and Indiana had arrived in 1865, but slower growth meant they had to wait longer to organize. When they were finally strong enough, in 1873, they had just 18 communicant members, and only 2 men could be chosen as elders. The new church took the name Round Prairie for the landscape where they had all settled. They never had a pastor, but seven different ministers—including Robert Hutcheson, newly arrived from Lake Reno—served as stated supplies from 1871 to 1882. By the mid-1880s, membership surpassed 30 before beginning to dwindle. Families began moving away (one elder and his family were pioneers of the Seattle congregation), and the end came in 1890 with the death of one of the original elders.

Except on the Atlantic coast, Covenanters tended to settle in rural locations, so there was never an organized congregation in Minneapolis-St. Paul; a few members settled there in the 1850s, but nothing came of it. Today, the Twin Cities are home to two-thirds of Minnesotans, including at least one RP family. Could we see a church plant there in the future?