Robert Cleaver Chapman (4 January 1803 – 12 June 1902), known as the "apostle of Love", was a pastor, teacher 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 ...

Early days

Chapman was born in Helsingor, Denmark, in a wealthy

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

merchant family from

Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in the Scarborough borough of North Yorkshire, England. Situated on the east coast of Yorkshire at the mouth of the River Esk, Whitby has a maritime, mineral and tourist heritage. Its East Clif ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. Robert was educated by his mother whilst the family was in Denmark and later at a boarding school in Yorkshire, after the return of the family to England. At the age of 15 Robert moved to London to work as an apprentice clerk in the legal profession.

Legal career

Robert completed his 5-year apprenticeship and became an attorney in 1823. In the same year he became a Christian after listening to the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

preached by

James Harington Evans James Harington Evans (1785-1849) was ordained as a Church of England clergyman in 1810. During his early years as a curate he suffered a crisis following the death of his first child. One of his parishioners suggested he study a volume of serm ...

in a nonconformist chapel in London. He prospered in his career and also spiritually and spent most of his spare time visiting and helping the poor of London. His dedication to the poor made a great impression on his cousin's husband, a Mr. Pugsley, from

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town in North Devon, England, at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool and won great wealth. Later it imported Irish wool, bu ...

, Devon, so much so that Pugsley, another lawyer, also became a Christian and began working with the poor in Barnstaple. In 1831 Robert visited Barnstaple on a holiday and helped out in preaching and other Christian work in the vicinity. On returning to London he became convinced that he was being called into full-time Christian work; he also increasingly felt that some aspects of his legal work sat uncomfortably with his faith. In 1832 he was invited by the Ebenezer Strict Baptist Chapel in Barnstaple to be their pastor. In April 1832 he left the legal profession and moved to Barnstaple to become a pastor.

Pastoral career

He accepted the post as pastor of a Strict Baptist chapel only on the condition that he would only be bound by what was written in the Bible and not by any denominational creeds or beliefs. Fellowship, for example, he believed was open to all true believers in Christ, and not restricted to those who had been baptised by full immersion on a profession of faith. His views on fellowship were similar to those of Anthony Norris Groves. Over time, the chapel changed from being Strict Baptist to a non denominational one ran on similar grounds to the assembly led by George Müller in Bristol, with a building at Grosvenor Street eventually being known as Grosvenor Street Chapel. In 1994 this church moved from Grosvenor Street to another part of Barnstaple occupying a converted railway shed and is now known as Grosvenor Church. Other examples of the assembly moving to a non denominational position are one man ministry being replaced by the

priesthood of all believers The priesthood of all believers or universal priesthood is a biblical principle in most Protestant branches of Christianity which is distinct from the institution of the ''ministerial'' priesthood ( holy orders) found in some other branches, incl ...

and Chapman refusing any clerical salary. Chapman never enforced these changes onto the chapel and never forced his viewpoint but was prepared to wait for every believer meeting at the chapel to see the need for change. Chapman rose to become an influential figure within the

Plymouth Brethren The Plymouth Brethren or Assemblies of Brethren are a low church and non-conformist Christian movement whose history can be traced back to Dublin, Ireland, in the mid to late 1820s, where they originated from Anglicanism. The group emphasizes ...

alongside

John Nelson Darby John Nelson Darby (18 November 1800 – 29 April 1882) was an Anglo-Irish Bible teacher, one of the influential figures among the original Plymouth Brethren and the founder of the Exclusive Brethren. He is considered to be the father of modern D ...

and George Müller. His zeal and compassion for people led to him being referred to by many as the "apostle of love". For example, Chapman preferred to live very frugally in a deprived area of Barnstaple in order to reach the poor. In 1848 he sided with George Müller in regards to a dispute over the independency of each assembly and believed that

should have waited much longer before excommunicating Müller's assembly in Bristol for not supporting Darby in his dispute with

Benjamin Wills Newton Benjamin Wills Newton (12 December 1807 – 26 June 1899) was an English evangelist, author of Christian books, and leader of a Plymouth church. His congregation and others around Plymouth became known as the Plymouth Brethren. Newton was a frien ...

. This riled some supporters of Darby who were wanting to discredit Chapman. Darby, however reproved them, saying, "You leave that man alone; We talk of the heavenlies, but Robert Chapman lives in them." In regards to the timing of the

rapture The rapture is an Christian eschatology, eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an Eschatology, end-time event when all Christian believers who are alive, along with resurre ...

of the Church, an issue which became prominent within the brethren movement, Chapman held a partial rapture view with part of the saved being raptured before the Great Tribulation and a part of them after the Great Tribulation. Charles Spurgeon called Chapman "the saintliest man I ever knew". Chapman became so well known that a letter from abroad addressed only to "R.C. Chapman, University of Love, England" was correctly delivered to him.page 72 of Agape Leadership by R.L.Peterson

Selected sayings

*“God is love” (1 John 4:16). His children please Him only so far as they are like Him, and “walk in love” (Eph. 5:2). *Humility is the secret of fellowship, and pride the secret of division. *If we would wisely reprove the flesh in our brethren, we must first, after the Lord's example, remember and commend the grace in them.

References

External links

Whiddon Valley Evangelical Church
at www.wvec.org.uk Who Was Robert Cleaver Chapman?
Robert Cleaver Chapman: The Rich, Poor Man
at www.pawcreek.org {{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Robert Cleaver 1803 births 1902 deaths British Plymouth Brethren Clergy from Barnstaple People from Helsingør