In His Steps

First published in 1896, 'In His Steps' is a religious fiction novel by Charles M. Sheldon, an American Congregationalist minister and leader of the Social Gospel movement. A longtime pastor in Topeka, Kansas, Sheldon was an early proponent of civil rights and social services for African Americans and a strong believer in putting one's religion into practice in daily life. This is a book about life, which has been so widely circulated. Its simple message tops literature, theology, and religion. An anguished, unemployed printer, looking for assistance in the mythical town of Raymond, is ignored until he's on the threshold of starving. His last words, as he tumbles in front of a church congregation, point out the disparity between believing in Christianity and actually living it. The death of the homeless man becomes the spur of a year-long pact. What happens when an entire congregation decides to stop before every decision and ask itself, "What would Jesus do?"