Written by Katie Mann for The Reformed Presbyterian Witness.
The only congregation of the RPCNA in the state of Wyoming is in Laramie, a small city sprawled across a broad valley along Interstate 80 where the high plains meet the Rocky Mountains. If you find yourself out of breath at our psalm sings, it’s not just your imagination—our elevation is 7,200 feet, or 2,000 feet higher than Denver, which lies two hours to the south.
Laramie’s population of 31,000 designates it as the fourth largest city in Wyoming, as our sparse state boasts only 575,000 people. Home to the University of Wyoming, the sole four-year academic institution in the state, which draws around 10,000 students, the city welcomes a diversity of backgrounds, cultures, and languages not encountered elsewhere in the region and is ripe for the witness of the gospel.
The mantra “Cowboy Tough” is a nod to those who settled the lawless Wild West, and it is often repeated in modern-day Wyoming to sum up the attitudes of its inhabitants. Longtime Laramie residents here wryly quip that our brisk winds blow away the riffraff. Indeed, our long, high-altitude winters and isolated rural landscape bring a harshness for a part of the year that is not for the faint of heart. This independent spirit and western American mentality of “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” affects the spiritual climate of this region as well. Dominant ideologies are rooted in religions of works-righteousness or humanism. Within Laramie, this influence is seen in the secularism brought by the academic culture and in the dominant religious institutions: the liberal mainstream churches, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Bob and Cheryl Hemphill were sent from Westminster, Colo., to Laramie in 2007 to begin church planting efforts. It was noted that Laramie, despite being home to a major university, had no Presbyterian or Reformed churches; in fact, the state of Wyoming contained only five or six churches aligned with Reformed theology. Bible studies, psalm sings, prayer nights, and meals for international students began to draw attendance. In January 2010, the fellowship was organized as a mission church, and in June of 2015, Laramie RPC became an organized congregation of the Midwest Presbytery.