Preaching and Plagiarism Pt.1

God has been pleased to give to the worldwide church some marvellous preachers in recent years. One thinks of the likes of Tim Keller, John Piper, Don Carson, Matt Chandler and many others from across the Atlantic.

And although that generation of men of God has begun to pass away, nevertheless the majority of their sermons are still very much available online. That means they are available for almost everyone. A church member can listen to a great sermon by the late John MacArthur on his way into work in the car each morning. And a pastor preaching a series on say the parable of the Prodigal Son can easily find and listen to what Tim Keller had to say on that text.

Sometimes a pastor has felt that what Keller (or whoever) has to say is so good and so brilliant that he would like to preach that himself to his own people. With a little tinkering he gets the whole message on paper and uses it in the pulpit of his church. The majority of church members are blessed by the message with no idea where it came from. But then sometimes trouble rears its head. One of those in the congregation who regularly listens to online preaching realizes that he has heard almost precisely the same sermon before on his digital device. The penny drops that it was that message he heard in the car some months before. He finds the message online again and listens just to check. And yes, his pastor used the sermon almost verbatim.

There then usually follow accusations of plagiarism. Plagiarism can be defined as ‘the practice of taking someone else’s work or ideas and passing them off as one’s own’. Perhaps our congregation member who listens to online sermons writes to the elders of the church about what’s happened. Perhaps he confronts the pastor himself. A difficult conversation ensues.

Two examples
A couple of real-life situations of this spring to mind. I know of a pastor of long standing who was ‘caught out’ doing this kind of thing and when confronted simply denied that he had done it. The church member found the online sermon and produced evidence which he sent to the elders of the church confirming that he was right. There were accusations that the pastor was cheating and not doing his job properly. A big hullaballoo followed and a lot of bad feeling. The elders tried to defend the pastor. Others from outside got involved and the church member was eventually accused of being disrespectful to the elders and felt he had to leave the church.

Another man from another country preached what was basically a ‘stolen’ sermon at a UK church by which he was employed as a youth worker. He thought nothing of it. Where he came from it was generally felt that there was nothing wrong with doing this. He just wanted to give the people a good sermon. But a whistle-blower noticed what had been done, made a huge fuss, and that man had to resign his post.

Where do we draw the line?
Is it ever right to use other people’s material? After all, if students copy something from the internet or use AI to write an essay which counts towards their degree they would be disciplined in some way. So, what are we to make of plagiarism in preaching? Should men be dismissed from their posts for doing it? Is a sermon like an academic essay? This matter has the potential to wreck churches and it is therefore worth thinking about.

We are generally used to the fact that most sermons we hear will quote from other sources – be it Spurgeon or Matthew Henry or Dr. Lloyd-Jones or Don Carson or someone else. Does a pastor need to give ‘footnotes’ to every quotation? If he doesn’t, is that plagiarism? Should a sermon be treated as an academic paper? And how much of what is said depends unconsciously on various other commentators anyway? I know of one pastor who privately told me ‘I’ve never had an original thought in my life’. Does that make him a bad pastor? Where do we draw the line?

I will come clean. My stance is that there are two types of plagiarism. One is wrong, and the other is right. In this series of articles, I will do my best to explain what I mean and to defend my position. You may not agree with me. But hopefully this series will clarify things and help you to think the issue through for yourself.