Gary Chapman

Dr Gary Chapman never dreamed he’d sell twenty million copies of The 5 Love Languages® in English or that it would be translated into fifty world languages. He was simply recording transformational principles he’d seen work in his teaching, counselling and own marriage. But the New York Times bestseller – and the movement it spawned – has made him famous.

Born in 1938 in a small North Carolina town, his happy childhood comprised study, work, play and church. He learned valuable lessons by observing his parents: give children structure, clear expectations, regular bedtimes, and crucial life skills from the get-go. In primary school, his favourite series of books was Silver Chief: Dog of the North, heralding a taste for adventure. Other significant childhood experiences include seeing his grandfather battle with alcohol and witnessing a serious motorbike accident caused by drugs. He decided never to touch either, believing that a ‘healthy brain is a great asset in life’.

At seventeen, he fully committed to serving Christ and began an educational journey stretching from 1955 until 1967. It took him from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago training for Christian ministry to Wheaton College studying anthropology, then to Baptist Theological seminary. He attended counselling courses, realising only later how significant they would become. Throughout his long education, a vision developed: to train national leaders abroad, specifically in Nigeria.

During Dr Chapman’s seminary years, he married his wife, Karolyn, his spouse for over sixty years now; she edits all his books. They had a volatile start, learning what happens when spouses don’t understand each other’s ‘love languages’ although it was twenty years before the concept fully crystallised and made it into print.

The vision for Nigeria never materialised. Karolyn’s health led to a rejection from the International Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. This huge disappointment took years to make sense. Instead, Dr Chapman worked as a professor for several years at what is now Carolina University and was an associate pastor at Salem Baptist Church. He and Karolyn later moved to Calvary Baptist Church where they have remained for fifty years in a variety of ministry roles. The past thirty have seen a focus for Dr Chapman on marriage and families counselling, drawing on those skills gained as a younger man.

Almost all his books, radio appearances and world-wide speaking ministry are based on what he has learned as a counsellor. He takes part in frequent Saturday marriage conferences with Moody Publishers and has spoken in prisons and at military bases.

Dr Chapman and his wife have two children, Shelley and Derek. Shelley was a compliant child and their father wondered what all the fuss was about. Then they had Derek, and he found out, learning many lessons from struggles with parenting that have given rise to some of his books.

At eighty-four years old, Dr Chapman recently retired from his position on the church staff as he believes that this is God’s main route for ministry.