In His Steps is a religious book written by Charles Monroe Sheldon and first published in 1896. The story mainly revolves around the character Reverend Henry Maxwell, who is the pastor of the First Church of Raymond. He challenges his congregation by asking them to not do anything for an entire year without first asking themselves: What Would Jesus Do? The story then follows members of his congregation who ask themselves what Jesus would do and how their actions have consequences. The story then shows how each of the congregation reform themselves and how the town of Raymond has garnered attention for their new changes to life and the story ends with Henry Maxwell having a vision of what some of his congregation's future looks like.
The story was written by the author during his Sunday night services when he thought to himself about various different people who stopped and thought 'What Would Jesus Do?' and how they would respond to this. The author wrote the story to explore characters' religious feelings and emotions and how this tied into their daily lives and to help readers reflect to on their lives and how they too can stop and think before making decisions.
The book has been well received by critics and readers alike and has even been ranked as one of the best-selling books of all time, with sales of more than 30 million copies. The film has also been converted to a full feature film, which was released in 2013.
