1899
A new century was about to dawn. Some people had prophe-sled that it would be a millennial century, a Christian century. Charles Sheldon, pastor of Central Congregational Church in Topeka, Kansas, hoped for that too.
The last half of the nineteenth century had been a time of evangelistic fervor. But what concerned Sheldon was not conversion as much as consecration. He wanted to see a Christian lifestyle. Were his church members living as Jesus lived"1 Was society being changed? If people were being saved, why weren't they affecting their communities?
The problems of immigration, urbanization, and industrialization were causing social disorder and unrest throughout the country. A few Christians were doing something about the problems. In Chicago, Jane Addams had started Hull House in the slums; in Columbus, Ohio, Washington Gladden called for a religion of relevance and for its "application to all human relations." And in Topeka, then a city of thirty-three thousand peo-pie, Charles Sheldon began writing a book on the simple theme, What would Jesus do?
It's not great literature, but the story is built on a great idea. The main character, Rev. Henry Maxwell, challenges his church members to "pledge themselves, earnestly and honestly for an entire year, not to do anything without first asking the question, 'What would Jesus do?׳" The book then traces the lives of various church members throughout the year.
As he was writing, Sheldon read the book to his youth group on Sunday evenings to test it out—one chapter per week. Because the response was so enthusiastic, and because adults as well as teens wanted to hear each new installment, Sheldon sent the manuscript to three book publishers. All rejected it.
So Sheldon asked his denominational paper, the Chicago Advocate, to put it in print, and it did, one chapter per issue. When the installments were completed, they were combined and published as a ten-cent paperback—selling one hundred thousand copies in just a few weeks.
Suddenly other publishers were eager to put it into print, including some publishers that had previously rejected it. And because the denominational magazine was not copyrighted, sixteen U.S. publishers (and many more in Europe and Australia) soon published their own editions of In His Steps. Sheldon never got royalties on his smash hit but he wasn't bitter. Instead, he seemed thankful that the message of the book was reaching millions of readers. In midcentury Publisher's Weekly reported that its sales topped those of every book except the Bible.
In 1900, after In His Steps was published, the publisher of the local newspaper asked Sheldon to edit the paper—as Jesus might do—for one week. Sheldon screened both the editorial and advertising copy closely and ruled out liquor and tobacco ads. Though the newspaper's circulation increased, Sheldon's poll-cies weren't continued.
Sheldon remained pastor of the Topeka church until 1919, when at the age of sixty-two he retired from the ministry and became editor of the Christian Herald magazine for six years. He wrote numerous books, most of them exhibiting his concern for the social implications of the gospel.
Amazingly In His Steps was a best-seller not only in the first decade of the twentieth century but also in the last. The 1990s saw teenagers rallying around the book, wearing ״'WWJD" (Sheldon's theme, What would Jesus do?) on bracelets, T-shirts, even tattoos. Few books of Christian fiction have had such staying power or have impacted as many lives.
Its simple message strikes home in any era. As Reverend Maxwell preaches at the book's conclusion: "If our definition of being a Christian, is simply to enjoy the privileges of worship, be generous at no expense to ourselves, have a good, easy time surrounded by pleasant friends and by comfortable things, live respectably, and at the same time avoid the world's great stress of sin and trouble if this is our definition of Christianity, surely we are a long way from following the steps of Him who trod the way with tears of anguish for a lost humanity."