From Ian Romeo De Felipe serving in Manila, Philippines
QUESTION:Changing or Using Secular Songs?
Can we use secular, double meaning songs during worship services and fellowship or arrange a song so that we can use it in a Christian way, for example taking "My Way" by Frank Sinatra and changing it to "Your Way?"
RICK MUCHOW:
From the Philippines to right here in California, this is a question that keeps coming up. It has two parts:
1) Is it ok to use "secular" music for the purposes of God?
2) Is it legal to change the lyrics of a song to fit use in the church better?
We have covered this first part of the question in previous Ask Rick Muchow articles, listing examples and referencing song use at Saddleback. The fact is that secular music speaks to people: seekers, unchurched and churched alike. That is what is attractive about using a secular song in church. Every attendee is likely to be familiar with the song and comfortable listening to its truth explained by a gifted teacher. A good song can sweep a country. A great song will sweep the world. Some secular songs have no spiritual value while others speak to the soul and have universal appeal. The reason so many songs are written about love is because love is a universal value. God's very nature is love. We are all created in his likeness, to love and be loved. Everyone has some level of desire and experience with love. Songs that talk about the journey of life also have great appeal because everyone is on the journey. Today, storytelling is the #1 most effective method for communication and teaching. Many secular songs, the ones that are especially useful for us, tell a story.
Using a story as an example or illustration builds a bridge to Biblical truth and can be a very effective way to teach Truth. As we know, Jesus is a masterful teacher. He used illustrations from common life such as fishing, farming, and family... all to teach spiritual truth. He would relate faith to planting a crop to in stories like the mustard seed or the seeds planted in different ground (see Matthew 13.)
It is important to note that Jesus did not teach about fishing, farming, and family merely to make a point about how to become better at those things. He related them all as examples of spiritual truth, not to teach about fishing, farming, or family. At Saddleback, we have found it effective to use secular songs (sparingly) in our worship services, not to promote the story in the songs, but to use them as illustrations, pointing people to a Biblical truth just as Jesus' stories did.
The second part of the question is about changing song lyrics. The simple, quick answer is you can do NOTHING with a song without permission from the publisher. Nothing includes: recording it; writing out the music, charts or arrangements; printing the lyrics, copying the CD for rehearsal, changing the lyrics or melody, or anything else.
So does that mean that we can't change the key of a song? That is correct. It is illegal to do anything with the song without the publisher's permission, including performing it.
Fortunately there is a company called CCLI (http://www.ccli.com) that does a lot of this permission leg work for us, however you still can not change the lyrics to any song without permission from the publisher, and CCLI covers only Christian music not secular music.
I recommend a fantastic book and a fantastic person to help you navigate song use issues. The book is "All You Need To Know About The Music Business" by Donald S. Passman which is available on Amazon.com. The person is Susan Fontaine Godwin. Susan advises many churches including my church and can be reached at http://www.churchca.com.
This is a big question, and I have the feeling that we'll keep asking it because it's a hard answer to hear.
