John Charles Chapman (23 July 1930 – 16 November 2012), affectionately known as "Chappo", was an Australian

preacher A preacher is a person who delivers sermons or homilies on religious topics to an assembly of people. Less common are preachers who preach on the street, or those whose message is not necessarily religious, but who preach components such as a ...

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

and

evangelist Evangelist may refer to: Religion * Four Evangelists, the authors of the canonical Christian Gospels * Evangelism, publicly preaching the Gospel with the intention of spreading the teachings of Jesus Christ * Evangelist (Anglican Church), a c ...

associated with the

Sydney Anglican The Diocese of Sydney is a diocese in Sydney, within the Province of New South Wales of the Anglican Church of Australia. The majority of the diocese is evangelical and low church in tradition. The diocese goes as far as Lithgow in the west ...

diocese. He wrote several books, including ''A Fresh Start''; ''Know and Tell the Gospel''; ''Setting Hearts on Fire'', ''A Sinner's Guide to Holiness''; and ''Making the Most of the Rest of Your Life'', all published by

Matthias Media Matthias Media is an Australian evangelicalism, evangelical Christian publisher. The business was founded in 1988, and grew out of the ministry of Phillip Jensen and editor Tony Payne at St Matthias, Centennial Park, Sydney under the name St Matth ...

. The Australian edition of ''A Fresh Start'' has sold nearly 40,000 copies since 1999. Having begun his career as a teacher, Chapman shifted to Anglican ministry, his first curacy being at Moree. There he organised the Billy Graham Crusade landline services for the whole of Moree there. He started an interchurch prayer meeting in the Warriors Chapel of Moree's Anglican church in 1959 which is still going today. This is where he met Preston Walker, Aborigines Welfare District Officer and member of the Moree Methodist Church who later joined the British and Foreign Bible Society. Chapman valued the Christian fellowship of Preston and Kath Walker as they were former

United Aborigines Mission The United Aborigines Mission (UAM) (also known as UAM Ministries, United Aborigines' Mission (Australia), and United Aborigines' Mission of Australia) was one of the largest missions in Australia, having dozens of missionaries and stations, and c ...

missionaries from Western Australia and were evangelical Christians. Chapman taught woodwork in Moree before becoming a curate at Moree. For 25 years he was the Director of the Anglican Department of Evangelism in Sydney, after beginning his career as a school teacher prior to theological training. In his retirement he continued to teach at Bible colleges, to speak at conventions around the world and to find time for the occasional game of tennis and golf. Thousands heard his "persuasive, sane and happy preaching" presentations of the Gospel. But it was his shaping of young preachers, from

Phillip Jensen Phillip David Jensen (born 1945) is an Australian cleric of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney and the former Dean of St Andrew's Cathedral. He is the brother of Peter Jensen, the former Anglican Archbishop of Sydney. Early life and conversion J ...

Steve Chong Steve Chong (born November 30, 1978) is the founder and director of the RICE (Renewal and Inter-Church Evangelism) Movement, originating from Sydney, Australia, which attracts thousands of young people in what is Australia's largest Asian yout ...

that brought him a lasting legacy. The single men's accommodation at

Moore Theological College Moore Theological College, otherwise known simply as Moore College, is the theological training seminary of the Diocese of Sydney in the Anglican Church of Australia. The president of the Moore Theological College Council is ''ex officio'' t ...

was renamed John Chapman House in Chapman's honour. A biography, written by Michael Orpwood, was published in 1995 entitled ''Chappo: For the Sake of the Gospel''. The foreword was provided by Dick Lucas - formerly rector of

St Helen's Bishopsgate St Helen's Bishopsgate is an Anglican church in London. It is located in Great St Helen's, off Bishopsgate. It is the largest surviving parish church in the City of London. Several notable figures are buried there, and it contains more monumen ...

- a long-standing friend of Chapman.

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