Sermon-Turned-Novel Continues to Inspire

It was 100 hundred years ago that Charles Sheldon stood at the pulpit of the Central Congregational Church on a Sunday evening and began reading his story-sermon.

He told a tale about a Rev. Henry Maxwell in the mythical city of Raymond, which bears a striking similarity to Topeka in the 1890s. The sermon related what happened when a young, unemployed printer came to town and was unable to find work or help.

Tired and hungry, the young man sat outside a church one night listening to songs being sung at a prayer meeting. “It seems to me there’s an awful lot of trouble in the world that somehow wouldn’t exist, if all the people who sing such songs went and lived them out,” the printer thought.

The printer later stumbled into the church, collapsed and died. As he toppled over in the direction of the communion table, he cried, “What would Jesus do? Is that what you mean by following in his steps?”

After the printer’s death, the congregation decided to ask itself, “What would Jesus do?” before making any decision.

The sermon became a novel called “In His Steps.” It became a worldwide best seller and propelled its author to international fame.

“It’s been published beyond anyone’s ability to track,” said Tim Miller, associate professor of religious studies at the University of Kansas, a Sheldon biographer.

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Miller estimated that “In His Steps” has sold millions of copies and been translated into around 45 languages.

“It’s certainly been influential in the lives of a lot of people,” Miller said. “Certainly, it would be hard to think of another book other than the Bible that has out-circulated it and been as widely read.”

Sheldon, who was minister at the Congregational Church in central Topeka from 1889 until his death in 1946, wrote several books, many of them inspirational novels. But none caught on like “In His Steps.”

The Rev. Dick Taylor, a retired United Methodist minister, remembers first reading it in 1948, when he was a student minister for a tiny church in Pine Hill, N.J.

“It’s the most basic Christian book of all time,” said Taylor. “It is so simple, it is so basic. It has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with life.”

The book started out as a “story-sermon.” Sheldon began writing the novel in the summer of 1896 and started reading it aloud to his Sunday flock in October.

A few weeks later, the story was serialized in a Chicago religious magazine called The Advance.

That both helped and hurt Sheldon.

It hurt because the magazine was not copyrighted. Publishing houses could--and did--start producing the book without paying him royalties.

It helped for the same reason. Not having to pay royalties, publishing houses started printing the novel in enormous numbers.

“His message did get out in a way it would not have otherwise,” said Miller, author of “Following in His Steps.”

The book has never been out of print. Two movie versions have been made, and there is talk of a third, said Topeka playwright Phil Grecian, who adapted the novel to the stage.

The novel is not remembered for its prose style. Critics had a field day with it, and Grecian called it “terribly written.”

The book appeals to people for reasons other than suspense, literary style or even theology.

“I think it is the simple message that transcends even religion,” Grecian said. “The message is: Be good to each other. I think in our heart of hearts we yearn for a gentler, kinder world.”