<P> The Roman Catholic Church emphasizes the concept of Imitatio Christi (imitation of Christ), which is summarized well in the English phrase "What Would Jesus Do?" </P> <P> John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, in 1766 postulated the concept of Christian perfection, a moment in the life of a Christian at which the regeneration effectuated by the Holy Spirit results in a "perfection in love" which means that at least at that moment one is being motivated wholly by love of God and neighbor, with no taint of sin or ulterior motives in effect . While such Christian perfection is expressed in outward action, it is also the effect of grace . Indeed, Wesley could speak of sanctification by faith as an analogous doctrine to the more widely held belief in justification by faith . Because Christian perfection is also visible in outward good works and a rigorously moral lifestyle, adherents of the Holiness movement assumed that a perfectly moral lifestyle is a consequence (not the cause) of the state of grace and ultimate salvation . </P> <P> Charles Spurgeon, a well - known evangelical preacher in London, used the phrase "what would Jesus do" in quotation marks several times in a sermon he gave on June 28, 1891 . In his sermon he cites the source of the phrase as a book written in Latin by Thomas à Kempis between 1418 and 1427, Imitatio Christi (The Imitation of Christ). </P> <P> Charles Sheldon's 1896 book In His Steps was subtitled "What Would Jesus Do?" Sheldon's novel grew out of a series of sermons he delivered in his Congregationalist church in Topeka, Kansas . Unlike the previous nuances mentioned above, Sheldon's theology was shaped by a commitment to Christian Socialism . The ethos of Sheldon's approach to the Christian life was expressed in this phrase "What Would Jesus Do", with Jesus being a moral example as well as a Saviour figure . Sheldon's ideas coalesced with those that formed into the Social Gospel espoused by Walter Rauschenbusch . Indeed, Rauschenbusch acknowledged that his Social Gospel owed its inspiration directly to Sheldon's novel, and Sheldon himself identified his own theology with the Social Gospel . </P>

Where did what would jesus do come from