I live in the realm of books and ministry. I’m surrounded by the newest books on discipleship and serving in the church, in commentaries on books of the Bible and in the newest fads and trends of the Christian world. The temptation might be to simply copy and paste, but that results in a lack of input from people who know the church (and are invested in their spiritual growth) and it’s a waste of time. Let me explain.
If you simply copy and paste a video, sermon, sermon series, evangelistic tool or vision, you are setting the people up for disappointment because you’re feeding them, training them, or trying to equip them with something that was written for a different audience and purpose.
In addition to that, what works in one setting will not necessarily work in another. What works for one group of leaders might not work for another. Also, what proved effective in one church won’t necessarily reap the same results in another.
Simply copying and pasting something, whether it’s a discipleship programme or a study or sermon programme, is lazy. It means that you focus more on the book, the theme rather than the personal circumstances of the church family in front of you and their spiritual needs.
Don’t copy and paste, whilst it may make life easier, it can cause more damage than good.
Instead look at your church, look at your fellow church members and think about what the Lord could do if we all worked together for His Kingdom and think about their particular needs for spiritual growth, that should dictate what next steps you take.
Many books, sermon series and future decisions are best made with your own people in mind. To simply copy and paste something from the internet is a disservice to what God said you could /should do.
Chalmers' Blog 