Robert Chapman

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Robert Cleaver Chapman (16 January 1803 – 1902), also known as the "apostle of Love," was a pastor, lecturer, and evangelist.

Early days

Chapman was born in Helsingor, Denmark, in a wealthy Anglican merchant family from Whitby, Yorkshire. Following the family's return to England, Robert was educated by his mother whilst the family was in Denmark and later in Yorkshire at a boarding school. Robert moved to London to work as an apprentice clerk in the legal field at the age of 15.

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Legal career

In 1823, Robert began his apprenticeship and became an attorney. After listening to the gospel preached by James Harington Evans in a nonconformist chapel in London, he became a Christian in the same year. He prospered in his career, as well as spiritually, and spent the majority of his spare time visiting and helping the homeless in London. Mr. Pugsley, a Barnstaple, Devon, made a good impression on his cousin's husband, Mr. Pugsley, so much that Pugsley, a lawyer, became a Christian and began serving with the homeless in Barnstaple. In 1831, Robert descended on Barnstaple for a holiday and helped with preaching and other Christian activities in the area. On returning to London, he became convinced that he was being called to full-time Christian service; he also felt that some aspects of his legal work were uncomfortably linked to his faith. He was admitted by the Ebenezer Strict Baptist Chapel in Barnstaple in 1832 to serve as their pastor. He left the legal profession in April 1832 and moved to Barnstaple to become a minister.

Pastoral career

He accepted the position of pastor of a Strict Baptist chapel only on the condition that he would only be bound by what was written in the Bible rather than by any denominational creed or creeds. For example, he believed that all true believers in Christ were welcome, not limited to those who had been baptized by complete immersion in a profession of faith. His views on fellowship were similar to Anthony Norris Groves'.

The chapel went from being Strict Baptist to a non denominational one over time, with the church in Bristol led by George Müller eventually becoming known as Grosvenor Street Chapel. This church changed from Grosvenor Street to another area of Barnstaple in 1994, when it was known as Grosvenor Street.

One man ministry is being replaced by the priesthood of all believers, and Chapman refuses to pay any clerical salary are other examples of the assembly's change to a non denominational position. Chapman never enforced these reforms into the chapel, never sought his opinion, but was keen to wait for every believer meeting at the chapel to see the need for change.

Chapman came to become a leading figure in the Plymouth Brethren alongside John Nelson Darby and George Müller. His zeal and compassion for others led to him being dubbed by some as the "apostle of love." Chapman, for example, loved to live in a impoverished area of Barnstaple in order to help the homeless.

He sided with George Müller in 1848 in a discussion about each assembly's independence, but insists that John Nelson Darby may have waited much longer before excommunicating Darby in his conflict with Benjamin Wills Newton. Darby supporters were riled because it threatened to discredit Chapman. Darby, on the other hand, condemned them: "You leave the man alone; we discuss the heavenlies; but Robert Chapman lives in them."

Chapman had a partial rapture view of the time of the Church's rapture, which became more prominent within the brethren movement, with part of the saved being raptured before the Great Tribulation and a part of them after the Great Tribulation.

Chapman was described by Charles Spurgeon as "the saintliest man I ever knew." Chapman became well-known that a letter from abroad was limited to "R.C.." Chapman, University of Love, England, was properly delivered to him.

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