Stafford Reformed Presbyterian Church - Congregational History

Congregational History

Stafford Reformed Presbyterian Church was organized on January 19, 1911, largely under the leadership of R. A. Boyd. A longtime minister of the Associate Presbyterian Church, Boyd had been the pastor of the Associate Presbyterian congregation in Stafford since 1900, but he came to hold Reformed Presbyterian views and took much of his church with him into the RPCNA. In 1911, the entire denomination included just 105 congregations throughout the United States; therefore, the sudden beginning of a new church in rural Kansas, its subsequent rapid growth, and the erection of its new building attracted significant interest across the denomination. Conversely, the congregation rarely attracted much attention in official documents after the mid-1910s: being noted only for its struggles in the Dust Bowl in 1935 and for the death of one of its members in World War II. The church reached its highest membership in 1924, when 80 names were on the roll. In the 1940s, it began to decline: with very few exceptions, the church suffered a net loss in membership every year after 1943, and it suffered through several periods in which there was no pastor. By early 1961, only nine members remained, and there was no pastor, as the final pastor had resigned in the previous spring. Ultimately, the Stafford Reformed Presbyterian Church was closed on November 9, 1961. The building was sold for $1,500 at some point in late 1960 or early 1961. After serving as the house of worship for the Bible Missionary Church, it was purchased by Henderson House Bed and Breakfast in 2001.