Biography
John Wilbur Chapman was born on June 17, 1859, in Richmond, Indiana. His family was prosperous, and he was educated at Lake Forest University and at Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati. He was a member of the Presbyterian church and decided to become a minister. During his time at Lake Forest, he heard D. L. Moody preach and was moved. He was converted in a meeting that Moody held and was deeply influenced by the evangelist. He said that Moody's life was a model for his own.
He was ordained in 1882 and served as a pastor in Presbyterian churches in Indiana, New York, and Philadelphia. He was a gifted preacher, and his churches grew. In Philadelphia, he was pastor of the Bethany Presbyterian Church, which was founded by John Wanamaker, the merchant, and which was among the largest churches in the city. Chapman built up the work, and in the 1890s he gained a national reputation. He was invited by Moody to take part in the Northfield conferences and became a regular speaker. He also was a speaker at the Keswick conventions.
In 1893, he left his church in Philadelphia to take up a national ministry as an evangelist. He held meetings in cities across the country and abroad. He was known for his plain, clear preaching and his warmth. He also served as a leader of the Presbyterian church and was involved in the work of the church for the nation. In 1901, he was appointed as the head of the evangelistic work of the Presbyterian Church. He organized teams of evangelists who went to cities and towns. Among those who joined him was Billy Sunday, the former baseball player, who served as his assistant for a time and learned the work of evangelism from him.
Chapman's greatest influence was exercised through the teams. He organized his campaigns with great skill and worked with the local churches. Beginning in 1908, he was joined by Charles Alexander, a gifted song leader, and the two men held a series of large campaigns around the world, in Britain, Australia and Asia, known as the Chapman-Alexander missions. They drew huge crowds. He was also a friend and mentor to many.
He was a writer of hymns, and he is best known for the words of the hymn One Day, which was written for the campaigns. It tells the story of the life of Christ and has been widely used. He also wrote a number of devotional books, including Received Ye the Holy Ghost and The Life and Work of D. L. Moody. His prose was simple and direct.
He also founded the Winona Lake Bible Conference in Indiana, which became a center of evangelical Christianity in the early twentieth century. It was a place where preachers gathered for a summer program of lectures and fellowship. Billy Sunday made his home there. It was the first of the major Bible conferences in the Midwest.
He was a man who worked at a rapid pace, and he often had to deal with ill health. He suffered from the effects of overwork and nervous strain. He also went through periods of depression and spoke of his own failures. His marriage to his first wife, Irene, ended with her death in 1892, and he later married Agnes Pratt. He lost some of his children. He met these sorrows with faith.
He died on December 25, 1918, at the age of fifty-nine, during the great influenza epidemic. His life shows how a man who followed in the tracks of Moody can pass on the work to others. He trained Sunday, who in turn reached millions, and so his influence ran on.
Sources
“Anything that dims my vision of Christ, or takes away my taste for Bible study, or cramps me in my prayer life, or makes Christian work difficult, is wrong for me.”
“Jesus was himself a pattern of prayer. With Him the day was born in prayer, went along in meditation, and closed in most intimate fellowship and communion with His Father.”
“Because He was a man of prayer Himself, He could speak to His disciples with authority concerning this subject.”
“If we ourselves would know how to pray, there are certain great principles which must be remembered when we come to Him: we must believe His Word.”
“If we do not confess and forsake our sins, we cannot pray.”
“Scripturally, the only way to pray is unto God through Christ by the Spirit.”
“Let prayer strike the keynote for the day, and prayer through the day keep you in harmony with the keynote.”
“The practice of the quiet hour is the secret of many a soul’s victorious service.”
“Nearness to God is essential if we are to be used of God. He chooses the vessel nearest His hand.”
“It is when we are in the secret place of the Most High that we learn God’s will concerning us.”
“God speaks His best messages to us in whispers, not in thunder tones.”
“We must be still to know that He is God, and study to be quiet that we may go forth from quietness to conquer.”
“Come into the secret place. Come in.”
“It was a season of prayer with John ‘Praying’ Hyde that made me realize what real prayer was. I rose from my knees to know what real prayer was.”
“The promise of the Spirit is a promise of power. A life without power is contrary to His plan for you and me.”
“This power must be yours for the claiming.”
“The Spirit of God is so sensitive that that which has even the appearance of the evil in it hurts Him.”
“We may quench Him by ignoring Him in the government of the church. We must begin by conforming the life of our churches to the teachings of the Holy Ghost.”
“We cannot grieve away the Holy Spirit of God; no, but we may grieve Him. We may grieve Him by disobedience.”
“The fullness of the Spirit is a gift, and the fruit of the Spirit is a growth.”
“He wants to put Himself in us. He wants to give us, in all its fullness, His own blessed nature, to keep us free from sin.”
“This blessing of a surrendered life is not only the privilege of every Christian, but the birthright of every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
“If we have not claimed it, the responsibility can be placed on none other than ourselves.”
“No child of God ought to be without peace, for it is his birthright in Christ.”