Give Credit Where Credit is Due

I’ve been working with pastors and church planters since 2010, and have noticed two common practices that seem to be on a collision course:

1. Everybody borrows. In sermons, in books, in classes, sources ranging from dead theologians to current megachurch pastors to pop culture references are quoted liberally, at length, often not verbatim, and sometimes to the point that your entire sermon or talk is essentially a restatement of someone else’s sermon or talk.

2. Nobody asks for permission. This is partly because it’s assumed that everything done in the name of ministry is allowable; it’s partly because it would be logistically impossible to preach and teach multiple times a week if you weren’t borrowing content at a furious rate.

This no questions asked, no permission given system works out fine for most of us. I’m probably not going to get caught for photocopying a chapter from my favorite Christian book for my small group, or for teaching a Sunday school class to 20 adults based on videos of a famous Christian pastor. (It’s not, strictly speaking, legal, but it’s not harmful enough that the original copyright owner would take the trouble to sue you.)

It can easily become a problem, however, if any number of things happen:

1. If you become well-known enough that your speaking and writing is scrutinized, you could be charged with plagiarism.

2. You might cross the line from using someone else’s content faithfully to misrepresenting it or using it in ways they wouldn’t feel comfortable with.

3. Your content could be flagged on platforms like Youtube or Facebook if someone recognizes you’re using a piece of music or a video clip without permission.

I’m not proposing that everyone start hunting down contact information and permissions policies every time they quote someone. I would propose a simple two-part check on anything you’re currently doing:

1. A conscience check. If you could look the original content creator in the eye and tell them what you’re doing with their content, would they be happy to hear about it? Or would they start asking questions and giving you a look?

2. To be more precise, ask yourself: is what you’re doing getting in the way of that person distributing their own content? For example, if you’re photocopying a chapter, you’re providing a loophole so that people don’t have to buy their book; if you’re essentially re-stating their sermon, you’ve replaced their sermon and the need for folks to go listen to them.

Everybody borrows and nobody asks permission, but under the Golden Rule, please don’t do anything you wouldn’t want done to yourself.