February 26: Birthday of Charles Sheldon (1857)
Prayer Idea
Pray about how you can imitate Christ’s love in our world today.
History Note
Charles M. Sheldon (1857-1946) was born in Wellsville, New York. He studied at Brown University and became a minister. In 1889 he became minister at the Central Congregational Church in Topeka, Kansas.
Sheldon started telling stories on Sunday evenings to try to increase attendance. One Sunday night sermon series involved several members of a church in the fictional town of Raymond who decided to face every situation in life by asking, “What would Jesus do?” and then taking that action themselves. The series was published in book form in 1896 and has been a Christian best-seller ever since.
In His Steps describes the social changes taking place with increased industrialization and shows how some members of American society were pushed to the fringes. It focuses on some wealthy church members and is admittedly a bit idealistic in what it describes; but Sheldon had some particular issues that he was emphasizing, such as alcohol abuse and life in the slums. The novel is a powerful challenge to anyone who will consider its central idea.
In 1900 a Topeka newspaper offered Charles Sheldon the opportunity to run the paper for a week “as Jesus would do.” Sheldon provided guidelines on what sort of stories to cover, what sort of advertisements to accept, and how to behave in the newspaper office. Circulation of the newspaper briefly rose from 15,000 copies per day to 350,000 copies per day.
Sheldon was influenced by the social gospel movement, which tended to focus more on how Christians lived in the world and to focus less on important doctrinal questions. The question asked in the book—“What would Jesus do?”—inspired the appearance of the letters WWJD on bracelets, clothing, and other items in the 1990s.
The apostle Paul challenged the Ephesians, “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” (Ephesians 5:1, NASB).
This is the cover from an 1899 printing of In His Steps. Image courtesy the Library of Congress.
Learn More
Watch this video about Charles Sheldon.
Learn more about Charles Sheldon at Homeschool History.
