For preachers, never before has so much ready-made material — thousands of sermons available at the click of a mouse — been so accessible.

As the Minneapolis Star Tribune put it recently, “Clergy who run short of time or inspiration can turn to a plethora of Web sites offering ideas, outlines and, if necessary, entire sermons that can be downloaded in a ready-to-read-Sunday-morning format.”

Unfortunately, we hear of too many ministers using such Internet crutches and shortcuts, ignoring the need for deeper biblical study and spiritual reflection.

We also hear of ministers, some of them big names in our fellowship, taking other preachers’ stories — gleaned from podcasts or brotherhood events — and delivering them as their own.

The pulpit is no place for plagiarism. God calls preachers — indeed, he calls all Christians — to a higher standard. Some church leaders contribute to the problem by just wanting a “good sermon,” no matter where it comes from.

In a recent blog post, Jim Martin, minister of the Crestview church in Waco, Texas, identified “10 Ways to Kill a Good Ministry.”

No. 3 on Martin’s list stood out to us: “Take plenty of shortcuts. Don’t study, read, think. Just preach someone else’s messages. You might rationalize that you don’t have time to prepare weekly messages. Over time, however, your messages will become thinner and thinner.”

As David Fleer, a Bible professor at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., noted in a January 2009 interview with The Christian Chronicle, churches assume the preacher to be the author of the sermon.

“To needy preachers, the addiction to borrowing is quick, long lasting and deadly,” Fleer said. “The minister’s creativity, discipline and integrity are at risk.”

Are we suggesting that ministers ought to rely solely on their own experiences and ideas for sermons?

Not at all. The best preachers mine sermon gold everywhere — from coffee shops and commentaries to bulletin articles and books to television shows and today’s news headlines. We applaud ministers who seek input and understanding from others. Our concern is routinely taking whole sermons — or large portions of them — from others without proper credit.

There is no copyright, of course, on the best sermon illustrations, those straight from God’s Word.

We also know that some ministers give carte blanche permission for other preachers to take their material and reuse it. In fact, some take it as a compliment when others find their sermons worthy of preaching again.

Even then, however, the congregation deserves to know the source of the material — and not just the Scripture references prepared by the original author. As Tim Archer, director of Spanish-speaking ministries for Abilene, Texas-based Herald of Truth, points out, it’s amazingly simple to take a moment to give such credit.

“Nobody loses respect for you unless you do it every single sermon,” Archer said of such source citations. “But if they find out you were using someone else’s material and passing it off as your own, well, they will rightfully look down on you.”

In a few cases, ministers have been fired for sermon plagiarism. As sad as that is, it should send a warning signal to other preachers faced with that temptation.

Lest we be misunderstood, we must stress that we realize: Preaching is tough. Ministry is demanding. Sermon preparation is challenging.

To that end, congregations must take specific steps to ensure that ministers have time to study.

Paying the preacher’s way to sermon seminars and lectureships would be appropriate, as would giving him an annual time off to plan sermons, study and think. Giving him a paid sabbatical would be helpful.
 
To put it simply, preaching God’s word requires integrity and hard work.