Clapham Servants is a global, non-profit organization focused on raising the next generation of leaders to serve in the way of Jesus. Areas of focus include: creation care, ethnicity and racism, and sabbath rest. Through immersive discipleship experiences in the world, young leaders continue to multiply.
Inspired by the work of William Wilberforce’s Clapham Sect, Clapham Servants is a community of people united in heart and soul to serve humanity in and through the power of the person of Jesus and His kingdom.
In the words of N.T. Wright: Jesus’ resurrection is the beginning of God’s new project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all, is what the Lord’s Prayer is about.
Clapham Servant’s core creed can be stated this way:
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we seek the reconciliation of all things through God’s restoration story as told in the Scriptures. We strive to learn, share, and live out the way of Jesus wherever we are in our ordinary moments of our every day lives.
Seven key principles:
- Holy Spirit – through prayer and community, we want to align ourselves with the power and work God is already doing among us, and have the courage to step into where He asks us to go.
- Reconciliation – God is drawing all things to Himself. We seek to serve and to reconcile.
- The Scriptures – the Scriptures are not just words on a page, they’re transformative, shaping us into the likeness of the Lord Jesus.
- Learn – we don’t have all the answers so we seek to learn from others – especially those who are different. Humility, curiosity, and truthfulness are vital.
- Share – we of course want to share the hope that is within us, but in ways that are respectful, God-timed, and winsome.
- Way of Jesus – the upside down King is not easy to follow – through such practices as prayer, patience, community, we stumble forward.
- Ordinary & Everyday – mountain top experiences are all around us, if we’re tuned into God, we can step into His way as His agents of peace and blessing.
Meet our Board of Directors
Jim Longhurst – President & Founder: Jim Longhurst is a graduate of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary (MDiv) and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (DMin). He has served as a pastor for the past 42 years in Michigan, Europe, and Massachusetts. In 2012, Jim founded Clapham Servants – a nonprofit inspired by William Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect. Clapham Servants seek to empower local churches to live the way of Jesus outside the church, engaging with critical issues of the day. Jim is an avid swimmer, and a fiercely competitive croquet player. He and his wife, Jean, love spending time with their two children and three grandchildren.
Robert Gough – TBA
Paige Hughes – TBA
Karoline
Ann Seavey – Ann Seavey is a graduate of Gordon College and of Northeastern University. She loves to learn and has a God-given heart for people who struggle. For 28 years until retiring in 2020, she had the privilege of working at Gordon College, directing the Academic Success Center, helping to make education accessible to all learners. Ann has been married to Paul Seavey for 46 years and they have four children and 4 grandchildren whom they dote on. Union Congregational Church in Magnolia, Massachusetts has been her church home since 1982. She enjoys nature, birdwatching, reading, cooking, and spending time with family and friends.
Bob Stallard – Bob Stallard graduated from Ripon College. Because of the War in Vietnam, he decided to go to Officer Candidate School, where he served as a combat infantry platoon leader. After returning to the US and searching for new values to live by, a 15-year-old man shared Jesus with Bob and he repented and turned his life over to Jesus. The following year he married Nancy. They have two children and two grandchildren and, whenever possible, spend time with them. Bob has been actively serving in the same church for 44 years along with Nancy. He has been a realtor since 1978 and retired in 2019. He continues to have a passion for solving problems, outreach, coming alongside people going through hard times and living in different communities. Since he was a young boy with dyslexia, he learned to love the outdoors: like hiking, sailing, skiing, mountain biking and in recent years he has now learned to love reading.
Ted Olson – Ted Olson is an entrepreneur and consultant. He has a degree in Comparative Religion from Tufts University, and has studied at the graduate level at Fuller Theological Seminary. He leverages talent optimization technology and his sales & marketing experience to help individuals and organizations develop strategic sales processes including demand generation and messaging. Ted is the best-selling author of Feel Good About Selling – a book written to help reluctant sellers become trusted advisors. For down time, Ted writes, builds websites, and practices martial arts. He homeschools his four kids with his wife, Nicole. They have two dogs (Oatmeal and Honeybee) and a guinea pig (Pinball) – his kids wanted him to mention the pets.
More about the history of the Clapham Sect:
The Clapham Sect was a group of social reformers based in Clapham, London. The group was led primarily by William Wilberforce and his cousin Henry Thorton at the beginning of the 19th century (1790–1830). They were a tight network of family and friends that shared common values, ideas, as well as a zeal for religious mission, activism, and social reform.
Their name originated from Clapham Commons located in south-west London. While their primary goal was the abolition of slavery, author, William Hague, notes they produced one of the greatest varieties and volumes of charitable activity ever launched by any group in any age.
Some of their activities included, but are not limited to: schools in Ireland, helping the deaf and challenged children of the poor, relief to London’s urban poor, education initiatives in Africa, and a refuge for orphan girls. They founded societies for religious instruction, missionaries, as well as societies for helping the poor, educating the youth, helping soldiers, protecting young girls, as well as widows, and the elderly. The list goes on. They even were instrumental in establishing a cancer hospital, eye clinics, and a number of other medical societies to improve the health and well-being of the population.
They did all this while simultaneously fighting, and ultimately abolishing, slavery.
There is much to do in this world. As Wilberforce reminds us:
You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.