Reformed Presbyterian churches exist in several countries worldwide: but why? Why do we exist in some countries, and not in others?

We can divide nations with RPs into two groups: those with “native” RP churches, and those where RP churches have historically been foreign missions. The RP Church originated in one of the first-group countries, the United Kingdom. In the remaining first-group countries—the Republic of Ireland, the United States, Canada, and Australia—RP churches were founded by British settlers. Some congregations, such as the first ones in South Carolina, were created by large groups of members moving together to form ready-made congregations. More commonly, large waves of British settlement included enough RPs that congregations were gathered.

Conversely, the second-group countries are those where RP churches were founded by foreign missionaries, who typically viewed their native lands as home and eventually returned there.

The first RPs were functionally a combined church and Scottish political party, who separated from the Church of Scotland in the late 17th Century over matters of national politics. Into the 20th Century, RP identity was fundamentally derived from Scottish/Irish ethnic identity and continued adherence to the founders’ politics.

Places without large Scottish or Irish populations were virtually guaranteed to have no RP churches. As an RPCNA Synod committee observed in 1932, properly understanding the church standards “requires no small historical knowledge.” Scottish political history was obscure in the British Empire and the United States, but it was completely unknown elsewhere. Therefore, second-group churches were culturally disconnected from first-group churches, who often deemed the second group inferior.

This cultural disconnect weakened second-group churches and their RP connections. Generations of mission work in Syria and Cyprus produced only a few small congregations, since the dominant RP distinctive was irrelevant in those countries. Missionaries often joined with other churches and ignored other RP distinctives, so their mission congregations weren’t comprised of committed RPs. Therefore, when our missions in those countries became independent, they joined local denominations instead of remaining RP. Furthermore, these weak congregations were affected by unfortunate national politics. God provided that RP mission works (except Japan and the British Empire) were in countries—China, Syria, Turkey, and Ethiopia—that oppressed foreign Protestant missions; so the second-group countries were cut off from the first group.

With this in mind, why do RPs exist where we do? Let’s look at some countries:

United Kingdom: We began in Scotland among people who rebelled against the government on religious grounds.

Ireland, both Republic and Northern: Soon after 1600, the “Plantations of Ulster” resulted in the settlement of vast numbers of Scottish Presbyterians in northeastern Ireland, who retained connections with their relatives across the Irish Sea. Ulster Scots who agreed with the early RPs in Scotland, therefore, were ready to form their own RP congregations and presbytery. When what is now the Republic of Ireland separated from the United Kingdom in 1922, most RP congregations were left in Northern Ireland, while a few were in the new country.

United States: Like other Presbyterians, some RPs settled in colonial America. Because most early RPs were fundamentally opposed to the British government, thousands of RPs migrated to the new country after its independence.

Canada: Some RPs seeking the New World but not fleeing the Crown naturally settled in this closest British colony beginning in the 19th Century.

Australia: Some RPs came soon after the Australian gold rush began in 1851. Many settled in southern New South Wales, either in the high country or in the flourishing port of Geelong. The RP presence has always been weak here; Australia is so far from the UK that few RPs and almost no ministers came.

Japan: RP missionaries founded a mission work here soon after fleeing Communist China. They chose the city of Kobe because of its Chinese community.

I will note that your author is unfamiliar with early RP history in other countries, such as France and the Gambia.

Finally, why don’t we exist in other anglophone countries? Few Scots or Irishmen settled in most territories of the British Empire. The major exceptions are South Africa and New Zealand. South Africa received more Dutch than British settlement, and if any RPs went there, they quickly assimilated. New Zealand, like Australia, is far from everywhere else, but its 1850s gold rushes were smaller than Australia’s, and civilization had spread over less of the country. Your author knows of only one RP-background family there; they are members of the Reformed Churches of New Zealand.