Saturday, August 29, 1998

Generation warms to words from 19th-century novel

By JUDY TARJANYI

Toledo Blade

Generation X, the demographic group weaned on Nike's admonition to "Just do it," has come up with an alternative adage straight out of a 19th-century novel.

They're wearing it on bracelets, T-shirts, lanyards, key chains, necklaces -- on anything the entrepreneurial mind can conceive. It's more question than slogan, but, shortened to WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?), it has evolved into a movement.

"What would Jesus do?" is the question posed by Charles Sheldon's 1896 novel, "In His Steps." In the book, a shabbily dressed man comes to the Sunday service of a local church and asks the congregation, "What do you Christians mean by following the steps of Jesus?"

As he wonders aloud about the troubles in the world and what Jesus would do about them, the man collapses and later dies. The pastor is so moved by what the man has said that the following Sunday, he invites anyone who is interested to join him in pledging to live their lives for a year by asking the question, "What would Jesus do?"

In 1989, nearly 100 years after publication of the book, a Holland, Mich., church youth group took up the same challenge at the suggestion of their youth pastor, Janie Tinklenberg.

To give them a reminder of their pledge, the Rev. Tinklenberg and Mike Freestone, a congregation member who ran an advertising firm, had bracelets made with the initials "WWJD" woven into them.

"We gave them to the kids, and the first week they came back and said so many kids were asking them what WWJD meant," the Rev. Tinklenberg recalled. "They wondered if it was a new radio station in town."

The Rev. Tinklenberg saw an opportunity for evangelism. "I said, 'Let's teach you how to share your faith. The first thing you say is it's for me. I've made a decision to live my life by a certain standard. Then you give them a bracelet, and I'll give you a new one.' "

Thus began the WWJD tradition of passing on the bracelet to anyone who asks about it. Some people even wear two, one to keep and one to give away.

The bracelets -- and the question they presented -- caught on so that, more than 15 million bracelets later, the youth of Calvary Reformed Church, who are now grown and having their own children, are credited with having ignited a movement that has spread to youth groups everywhere. Here, the Family Christian Stores of Toledo estimate they sell 100 of the cloth WWJD bracelets, currently priced at 99 cents apiece, daily.

What would Charles Sheldon think?

"I think he would rejoice," said Sheldon's great-grandson, Garrett W. Sheldon of Big Stone Gap, Va., a University of Virginia political science professor who has written a contemporary version of "In His Steps" published in 1993. "He always thought that message was inspired, and he said he didn't invent it. He believed God gave it to him."

Charles Sheldon wrote "In His Steps" as one of a series of sermon stories for his congregation at Central Congregational Church in Topeka. He would read a chapter each week, stopping at a critical point to entice church members into returning the following week.

"In His Steps," for which Charles Sheldon later wrote three different sequels, was written in the style of the social gospel novel popular at the time. Another author, Glenn Clark, wrote a sequel, "What Would Jesus Do?," in 1950 with Charles Sheldon's permission. Clark's book continues the story with the grandchildren of the characters "In His Steps."

At the time his book was published, Clark said that he hoped a third book would appear in 50 years, "written by someone under the guidance of the Holy Spirit." Dr. Sheldon thinks his contemporary retelling of "In His Steps," also titled "What Would Jesus Do?" is it.

He said the "What would Jesus do?" question has a way of registering with people, especially lifelong churchgoers who think they have all their theological ducks in a row. "I speak to a lot of churches of all denominations. All you have to do ... is say have you every thought of asking yourself, 'What would Jesus do,' and you just see the response on people's faces."

For youth group members at Perrysburg's Bethel Assembly of God, wearing a WWJD bracelet or necklace serves as both a reminder to live the way Jesus did and a statement to others about whom they have chosen to follow.

The group is big on WWJD stuff, ranging from T-shirts to lanyards to the popular bracelets.

J.P. Leong, 17, had five bracelets, but has given them all away. Chris Smith, 19, added, "I gave all mine to little kids, because they're the only ones who asked."

"If you're wearing (the bracelet), and you're falling into temptation, you think, 'Wow.' It makes you stop and say, 'What would Jesus do?' " said Stephen Laing, 14.

"It holds you accountable, because others see it," said the Rev. Heath McCoy, youth pastor at Bethel.

The Rev. McCoy and the Bethel youths worry, though, that marketing may be killing the WWJD message. Scores of companies are selling stuff with WWJD on it, and the market has been saturated with paperweights, T-shirts in multiple styles, backpacks, dogtags, pens, markers, magnets, shoelaces, and several different kinds of bracelets and necklaces. There are even WWJD websites and a CD.

WWJD is no longer a code word for church kids. Some people even have changed its meaning to "We Want Jack Daniels," the Bethel youths said. "They may have marketed the whole meaning right out of it," said Laura Morford, 16.

To maintain the integrity of the WWJD message, the Rev. Tinklenberg, who now is minister of youth and family at Peace Lutheran Church in Gahanna, Ohio, has applied for a trademark on the initials. If it is granted, she plans to give it to the nonprofit WWJD Foundation, which she established to support youth ministry.

"There is plenty of money to go around and plenty of bracelets to be sold, and all those folks could still make a zillion dollars and still have a tiny piece to have ministry continue."