Rycroft, W. Stanley (William Stanley)

W. Stanley Rycroft; missionary, teacher and general advocate for Protestant missions in Latin America and for the separation of church and state in the United States; was born and raised in England.

In 1922, Rycroft went to Lima, Peru as a missionary of the Free Church of Scotland. In 1940, he relocated to New York, where he was elected executive secretary of the Committee on Cooperation in Latin America (CCLA), an interdenominational committee of thirty Protestant mission boards. From 1950 until his retirement in 1966, Rycroft served on the executive staff of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. and its successor, the Commission on Ecumenical Mission and Relations (COEMAR) of the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., as Secretary for Latin America, and then as Secretary for Research. Rycroft was also involved in Protestants and Other Americans for Separation of Church and State (later Americans United for Separation of Church and State). In addition to numerous articles, booklets and editorials, Rycroft authored several books.

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