He was frustrated with sagging attendance at Sunday night worship. Charles Sheldon (1867-1946) composed a series of sermon stories to capture people’s imaginations at his Congregational church in Topeka, Kansas. In his fictitious story, Pastor Henry Maxwell challenged people to refrain from doing anything without first asking the question, “What would Jesus do?” Half the people in this imaginary congregation accepted his challenge to answer this question for themselves, regardless of the consequences. Shelton elaborated in each successive Sunday night sermon another installment of someone whose life was transformed by the answer to the question. Every story concluded with a cliffhanger ending, bringing people back for more. Attendance at Sunday evening worship picked up and by the end, it was standing room only. The stories were published in a local newspaper and later collected in book form under the title In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do? The genesis for the title came from 1 Peter, “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example to follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2.21).
In the 1990’s, a youth leader in a Michigan church read Sheldon’s book and seized on the “What Would Jesus Do” phrase. She shortened it to the acronym WWJD and had it printed on elastic bracelets to remind students of the message. The idea caught on and soon WWJD showed up everywhere.
Charles was asked what prompted him to write on the what-would-Jesus-do-theme. He replied, “I wish to utter my tremendous protest against any attempt to keep Jesus out of daily life.” No quarrel here! My only caution is we cannot know what Jesus would do if we don’t first know what Jesus did in Scripture. Charles’ prayer leads us in asking Jesus to reveal what he wants us to do: