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Should We Sing Secular Songs in Church?
We play quite a lotta secular stuff at church, often with lyrics changed to Christian content. Which is great as many people recognise them and enjoy them
I see a lotta people here don't listen to secular music. So i just want to see what people feel in general about playing secular stuff in church?
Any comments welcome :)
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Shezz on -
Hey Ryan
Thanks for your comments.
We do play far more Christian music than secular music so there is certainly not any leaning towards secular over Christian.
As much as i do agree with you that worship is about leading people to focus on God, why should they not enjoy it while going about it? Being a Christian is awesome! The way i see it, it should be a good balance between serious worship and good fun praise.
And as for the melody bringing to mind the secular lyrics - can it not work the other way around? Perhaps when someone hears the song on the radio they can remember the Christian lyrics ;)
Don't get me wrong - we are in no way taking Jesus out of the church. But a friend of mine said, if Jesus is in EVERYTHING, doesn't that make Jesus secular?
Thanks again Ryan for your comments, I am glad to get someone else's opinion on the subject (",)
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Permalink Reply by Michael Blue on -
Mark, so you worship "God" but not "Christ"?
May I ask what specific doctrine/religion/denomination you belong to?
Just trying to understand your position better. Thanks!
~M
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Permalink Reply by Junjie on -
"Perhaps when someone hears the song on the radio they can remember the Christian lyrics ;)"
At the moment, my two sons are thoroughly convinced that Justin Timberlake's sexyback is really called 'babyback', that he got it wrong and their Daddy got it right. :)
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Permalink Reply by Mike Dwyer on -
I think the use of secular music in church can be a powerful tool. A good song is a good song no matter what the origin or intent. If the song speaks to the theme and communicates well then use it. Cheers!
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Permalink Reply by Greg S. on -
I see nothing wrong with changing the words to some secular songs and using them in the church, if that is how you are being led. However I am with Ryan, I don't have any shortage of worship songs to pick from as the Spirit leads. I have never felt a need to use secular music. I do wonder, though, if using those songs and changing lyrics doesn't cross the line on copyrights. The CCLI license would not cover them, would they? Just a thought.
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Permalink Reply by Shezz on
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Thanx guys for your replies.
First i just want to clarify something . . when i say we play a lot of stuff that means we have a variety, we dont play secular stuff every time we set foot in the church :)
I never thought about copyrights. However wouldn't that only be a problem if we wanted to record them?
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Permalink Reply by Kevin LeVrier on -
That is for sure, without the CCLI license, would your chuch to be audited, you could face fines.
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Permalink Reply by Junjie on
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"I do wonder, though, if using those songs and changing lyrics doesn't cross the line on copyrights. The CCLI license would not cover them, would they? Just a thought."
Very practical and insightful concern, wish I thought of that myself. It would make the church look bad if secular artists started to sue us for copyright infringement. Bad testimony... :)
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Permalink Reply by Scott McCullor on -
Since when is a sermon given for profit? Oh wait, I forgot about Bob Tilton and the name-it-claim-it folks.
Even so, I believe you can perform any song ever written without concern for royalty - especially if it's performed at a non-comercial event like church regardless of how many are present. Of course if you record and sell it, then that's something different. Not sure about a concert for which tickets have been purchased.
Guess I need to clarify all of this with Jay Pilkington before I do the song of his I'm working on, eh?
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Permalink Reply by Michael Blue on
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This isn't correct. Money or not, it's still a public performance of the song.
This has been discussed at length. You CAN'T use OR modify songs without permission, PERIOD.
:)
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Permalink Reply by Dan Camp on -
Case in point--Edelweiss from The Sound of Music had new lyrics put to it several years back for use as a benedictionary song ("May the Lord, Mighty God, Bless and keep you forever..."). A couple of churches got sued by the estates of Rogers and Hammerstein for copyright infringement...and lost...
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Permalink Reply by Greg Moore on -
I'd be delighted if someone adapted my song for some good purpose -- what a compliment! But we do have such a thing as song ownership in this world (notice the term "international copyright secured"). It's not new -- among native Americans in some locations, an individual had a song that they made up, or inherited from their father or friend or chief. No one else could sing that song without permission. One English composer made a fortune by securing the crown's copyright on music PAPER (can't remember which - Dowland? That's it tidbit from long ago in music history class).
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