Stealing sermons

The topic of plagiarism and preaching has been getting some attention this week. On Wednesday, for example, the Wall Street Journal ran an article on preachers getting their sermons from the web. I found the article after reading this post by Justin Taylor who, along with Matt Perman, offered guidelines earlier this year for avoiding plagiarism in preaching and teaching.

Reflecting on a couple of these pieces, Tim Challies offers thoughtful reflections on plagiarism in the pulpit and shares an experience from his own congregation:

My pastor, immediately before he began to deliver his sermon, addressed the congregation, thanking them for providing him with the opportunity of being supported in the privilege of spending his weeks studying the Bible. As a pastor, he feels his most important responsibility (and his greatest privilege) is in studying God's Word, and then delivering that Word to the people. In an interview I conducted recently with Mark Dever, he said much the same: that a pastor's primarily responsibility is to serve his church by absorbing himself in the study of the Bible. Rarely can a church outgrow the pastor. The pastor must lead the way in studying the Word. This must be his primary occupation and must take precedence over other tasks, and even important tasks, such as pastoral counselling or providing leadership.

A pastor who plagiarizes sermons is clearly not fulfilling his primary responsibility. He is not investing time and effort in studying the Word, in understanding the Word, and in helping others understand what God has taught him.

Our primary responsibility--Amen.

The WSJ may well have been inspired by Michael Duduit, who wrote three posts on stealing in the pulpit in September.

Update: Terry Pruitt responds to the WSJ article and shares his perspective from growing up in a rural church.

Update 2: Wayne Shih has posted a roundup of blog articles on pulpit plagiarism.