A little over ten years ago, I was asked to ghostwrite a book for a famous Christian author. That was when I first woke up to the reality of plagiarism among Christian leaders. I’d heard of ghostwriting; I just didn’t realize how widespread it was until I saw behind-the-scenes of the evangelical publishing world. I wondered: How can professing believers pass off another’s words as their own?
Imagine my shock a few years after that when I first learned that some Christian preachers do the same!
Turns out it’s a rather big thing, more widespread than most churchgoers even know. Just a couple of months ago, a friend asked me for advice on what to do about a pastor acquaintance across town who regularly preaches someone else’s sermons as if they were his own work. There are even some churches and preaching resource services that package sermon content for sale to preachers in need of a message.
Is it really that wrong? Aren’t we all just standing up and leaning into the Word of God which isn’t original to us, anyway? And if someone was helped by the sermon, isn’t that all that matters?
Well, no. Pastoral plagiarism matters because
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