Pastor Plagiarism Is In The News, And It’s A Problem
Pastor plagiarism is in the news. Some prominent pastors have come under fire recently for plagiarizing the work of others, specifically in their preaching.
I wish I could say that this is shocking, but it happens all the time. I’ve seen pastors take entire sermons from other pastors and preach it like it was their own.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with learning from how another pastor treats the Word and expounds it to their congregation, but it’s wrong if you steal that sermon and preach it like it’s your own.
Reasons Why Pastors Plagiarize
1. Lazy
Pastors that plagiarize don’t want to do the hard work of coming up with an original sermon. They don’t want to spend hours studying the Bible. They don’t want to pour their blood, sweat, and tears onto the page and go through the agonizing process of turning a blank page into a work of art. So in their laziness, they rip off something else that they like. They take someone else’s hard work, so they don’t have to do it.
2. Poor time management
Pastors that plagiarize don’t manage their time well. They get to the end of the week, don’t have a message to preach, and so they panic and take one from somebody else. I can sympathize with them here. It’s easy to allow the week to get away from you when you have to preach every single week. Everyone demands your time. People call the office with questions. People walk in wanting counseling. You get bombarded with emails. You have budgets to check, administrative work to do, facilities to be maintained, people to call and visit, pastoral care to do, staff and volunteers to manage. On top of all of that, everyone expects you to be a world-class Bible teacher and preacher. But that doesn’t excuse you from doing the work you are called and hired to do.
3. Pride / Fear of man
This goes hand in hand. Pastors plagiarize when the pressure of their expectation to preach is too heavy for them. What if they don’t preach the best sermon ever this week or next week? So they look at “successful” preachers and use their best sermons instead. The fear of what others think of them and the pride of having to be the best tempts pastors to cheat. The weight of this burden of pride and fear of man is too heavy to bear, and so they crack. Pastors need to fear the Lord more, not man. God would rather you preach an average sermon than lie, cheat, and steal to make yourself look better (that is, until you get caught).
What Does the Bible Say About Plagiarism?
- Jeremiah 23:30 (ESV), “Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another.”
- Ephesians 4:28, “Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”
- Plagiarism breaks the 8th commandment (Exodus 20:15, “You shall not steal.”), 9th commandment (Exodus 20:16, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”), and 10th commandment (Exodus 20:17, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” ).
- James 3:1, “Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”
- A pastor’s job is to preach the word, and dedicate themself to reading and teaching the word.
- 2 Timothy 4:2, “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”
- 1 Timothy 4:13–14, “devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have”
- Acts 6:4, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Consequences For Pastor Plagiarism
1. Lose your job
You could and should be fired for stealing. Just look at the qualifications for an overseer in the church in 1 Timothy 3 and tell me that this doesn’t disqualify you from ministry—at least for a season of repentance and restoration.
2. Lose your credibility
Trust is the foundation of all relationships. Once a pastor plagiarizes, he loses people’s trust. You’ve been caught lying, cheating, and stealing. Why should you be trusted? It will take time to regain credibility.
3. Lose people in your church
Some people will leave your church because they no longer trust you. They will go find an honest pastor that isn’t a thief.
4. Potential lawsuits
The person from who you’ve stolen intellectual property has the right to sue you. These cases may be rare, but it’s possible you could end up in an ugly legal battle.
5. Steal from others, and it hurts them
You hurt the people you steal from. They feel violated, used, and taken advantage of. You will hurt somebody, and it’s not just the person you steal from or the people who lose trust in you.
6. Steal from yourself, and it hurts you
Plagiarism hurts the pastor who commits the sin. You don’t benefit from the process of study and preparation that God uses to mold and refine you. Sermon preparation is hard work, but it’s good and holy work that God uses to refine the pastor in their prayer, study, and preparation to deliver the Word. Don’t cheat yourself.
7. Sin against God
This is the most significant consequence. When pastors plagiarize, they sin against God by breaking his commandments (as mentioned earlier). You have broken God’s law and must repent and beg God for forgiveness. Unrepentant plagiarism is unrepentant sin.
How to Borrow Another Pastor’s Work Without Stealing
1. Do the work yourself first
Start in the Word yourself, then study what others say, and finally write your own message pulling in the research you’ve gathered.
2. Cite your sources
If you cite a source, it’s no longer plagiarism; it’s research. That’s the difference. Give attribution to what you borrow. Add a citation in a slide or say, “(Person) once said…”, or “According to (source)…”
3. Cite it in your notes (even if not in sermon)
Sometimes, you may choose not to list the name of an author or the article you read where you got a fact—though it’s best to give at least a general statement that shows you read it somewhere or even name the newspaper or website. There are times when it’s too much of a distraction to the message to list a controversial author or source that might derail people’s focus.
In these situations, at the very least, keep a record of your sources in your notes so that if anyone ever does ask where you got a fact or thinks that you are plagiarizing, you can show them your notes.
4. Learn from others, but draw your own thoughts.
Do your own critical thinking on what you read. Don’t just purchase someone else’s work and use it. Don’t just quote a book without analyzing what you read. Add your own thoughts, commentary, and opinion to all of the material you use in your message.
Pastor plagiarism is a problem.
You may be tempted to do it, but I’m begging you to commit today to never stealing someone else’s work. Always cite your sources, think for yourself, and uphold your integrity as a servant of the Lord. Too many pastors have done enough to damage the church’s reputation; don’t you dare add to it.
This is the most dumbest conversation i have ever heard of. If a pastor starts speaking scripture because he has memorized it then he is in essence plagiarizing the word of the Lord. Oh how terrible!!!!!!!! Seriously? In this day and age when everybody is lead astray and you are worried about a pastor using somebody else’s sermon??? If the sermon is preaching the word of God and changing lives i hope he plagiarizes all day long. We have so many more important issues in our society and the church and this is concern? Preaching is not like any other occupation. It is not journalism. How many times have you heard a sermon illustration that somebody else used. Big deal. I would rather have a pastor preach a plagiarized biblically sound message then hearing some original progressive liberal heresy any day.
Does the dynamic of salary change anything? If I was being paid to research different topics and give a report. And all I did was regurgitate some else’s research. How long would I have a job. The issue is not citing credit to every commentary or preacher or literature that was viewed. The issue is when that person claims that as their own or misleads the congregation of their preparation from the pulpit. It creates a window of opportunity for distrust which is exactly what the enemy can and will use.
I think the article is very well written. The author never really defines plagiarism- except to say “I’ve seen pastors take entire sermons from other pastors and preach it like it was their own.” Some of the commenters seemed to ‘read into’ what was being said. The reason I’m here- is I was searching google… Because a young minister that I mentor recently preached a message that I found online. I agree we all use others’ material, we don’t cite every source, we preach our friend’s sermons, we share material… I have no problem with any of that. However, when you use an illustration that states “I was sitting…” or anything of the kind- and it wasn’t YOU that it happened to, or you weren’t the one sitting there that had the revelation, it’s a lie. If you say something like, “I was driving down the highway and God spoke…” And it’s actually what the other minister said in his message that you are now preaching… there’s a great chance that you are lying. I’m not suggesting that we all have to write our own messages without any outside help, nor am I suggesting that we cite every source. But would it really be that difficult to say, “I heard a preacher say the other day…” Instead of putting it in the first person?
Thank you for having the courage to write this. It has blessed my life. I agree, if a Pastor/Teacher of the word of God. Uses another Pastors story or teaching it should be cited this is legal practice. The Pastor can simply give credit casually or professionally to the source. To act as if the message or story is there’s is lying and stealing underhandedly. A lie is a lie even if it fits in the message. This is misleading and the Pastors character and integrity is in question. The Pastor should be seeking God diligently for the words he will teach Gods children. More and More people are turning away from the church because of lack of trust in the Pastor and the ministry all together. It also is painful for the members that attended the church and invested there time, money and life. Only to find out the Pastor was not who he portrayed himself to be. It causes confusion, pain and can push people away from God. The exact opposite of what God wants for his children.
The quotation from Jeremiah is taken out of context. The larger passage is speaking of false prophets speaking messages in the name of God which He did not give them to speak. The verse is for preachers of false messages, not preachers of the true Word of God who borrowed from a commentary. I agree that pastors need to do our own work, but if I were to list the name of every commentator who influenced my message, I would lose my people. They don’t need to hear how great a scholar I am; they need a well-written, commentary-supported message that feeds them. This article is overzealous. I’m curious if the writer is actually a pastor himself.
We have just lived through this and it is painful, hurtful, and anger producing. Four (4) years ago, we realized our pastor’s sermons were not his. We sought counsel on this, we prayed about it, and then we followed the steps as outlined in Matthew. He immediately was remorseful, thankful that someone brought this to him. But…….he continued. Week after week we could find his sermons within minutes on our phones and follow word for word. We have now left the church that we were raised in, got married in, and raised our family in. We are angry and have absolutely no trust in this man. Your comments were spot on in every way. For those of you defending this practice, shame on you. If you plagiarize in college and are caught, you are immediately dismissed. You know longer truly know what is “truth”. How sad. Thank you for this, we are passing it on. We are not strangers to church work, my husband has been minister of music for 47 years.
Believe it or not everyone plagiarizes in some way. We shouldn’t preach from the Bible, because we are all plagiarizing Paul, Moses, Jesus etc. I agree to cite sources, but Charles Spurgeon used parts of other sermons. Apostle Paul quoted David. Come off this nonsense. Every preacher uses some bits from other preachers, in fact some expound more on what someone has already preached. Not every preacher cite sources, reason that not everyone knows preachers like Moody, Lewis, lake etc. but I’m sure they have no problem preachers using parts of their sermon to save souls. How ridiculous to even think no one does this. Well praise the Lord.
Agree!
If a pastor preaches a message and people are blessed by the message, what’s wrong with another pastor preaching the same message in order to bless God’s People. Especially if they just preached it without publishing it. People of God, let’s stop being selfish. Preaching the word of God that another pastor preached is not plagiarism in my own opinion. It’s spreading the message of the gospel. God bless.
If A sermon Help Lead people to Christ Use it if you can Anybody can use mine if it will Help Get people Saved I’m Honored And God is as well So don’t be a selfish Pastor Share the Word of God Amen 🙏 🙏🙏
I totally agree, freely you have received, freely give!
Those messages is A Bunch of Bull!!God Word Will Not return Void And the Big wheel Pastor’s have help with their Sermons as well: The idea is for people to be lead to Christ!! That’s what a Pastor and Other Christians are called to do so if the of God leads people to Christ!!!its Not No Pastors Word it’s God’s Amen (The Word is to Lead To Salvation )
I enjoyed this article and it’s a good reminder and caveat on plagarism. A preacher who plagarizes if unfit for ministry. Sermon preparation itself is a form of worship. I normally take 20 to 30 hours to prepare an expository sermon. Many pastors, who do expository sermons, take about that amount of time. The moment get an invitation to preach, I pray for the text, got the text, pray for God to open my eyes to receive his message, I pray for my exegesis, pray for sermon outlines, pray for my illustration, pray for the introduction and conclusion, then prayerfully edit my sermon. If I preach on Sunday, Saturday night I ask my wife to check my sermon notes, average 15 pages, but I don’t preach all of them. Once my wife sees that the sermon is prepared with integrity, we hold hands and she ask God to use me as I preach next day.
As for myself, I solemnly and symbolically lifted the sermon notes to the Lord as an offering, “Lord, I already done my best to prepare this sermon to feed your children, please use it to point others to Christ.”
My friends, I dare to ask God’s blessing, if I plagarize someone’s sermon?
I may not be as great as Tim Keller, yet when I faithfully and prayerfully prepare my sermon, I thank God for rewarding me with amazing responses, out of 100 sermons, I could say 99 were effective, when the audiences are inspired and touched by God’s word.
Thanks Brandon. This message is timely and very useful!
Thanks Brandon. This message is timely and very useful!
Thank you for the article.
Those messages is A Bunch of Bull!!God Word Will Not return Void And the Big wheel Pastor’s have help with their Sermons as well: The idea is for people to be lead to Christ!! That’s what a Pastor and Other Christians are called to do so if the Word of God leads people to Christ!!!its Not No Pastors Word it’s God’s Amen (The Word is to Lead To Salvation )