FAQ
Can we include music clips from Youtube in our streamed or prerecorded church services?
We are receiving lots of questions about copyright and licensing considerations if a congregation streams hymns and worship songs from YouTube. We have taken legal advice on the issue. Although these songs are all freely available for anyone to watch on YouTube, the material has been licensed by the users uploading to YouTube, which then licenses it to those downloading. In short, the YouTube license may not permit you to broadcast YouTube material to congregations or in public. We are in touch with our lawyers and are checking whether this would be problem on other music platforms. We will keep you advised.
Please note that churches doing music over livestream need to upgrade their regular CCLI licence to a “streaming” licence: au.ccli.com/streaming-licence-manual/. This license gives permission to share their live-performed music over the internet, as long as it is not for download.
Dave Phillips, General Manager of Presbyterian Youth, will be making resources available on the PY website soon. Please contact Dave at davephillips@pynsw.org.au for more information.
How shall we continue to share The Lord’s Supper?
We have received several questions from Ministers about the Lord’s Supper. These questions are answered in the appended paper: ‘Virtual Lord’s Supper?’.
We also refer you to this this article on church meetings on the GS&C site: http://gsandc.org.au/church-and-meeting/.
What do I need to think about with regards to children and youth in my congregation at this time?
Jericho Road have provided valuable resources with Breaking the Silence and child protection in mind: https://jerichoroad.org.au/covid-19-resources-for-safe-ministry/
Presbyterian Youth also have some useful guidelines and links in their Resources page: https://pynsw.org.au/resources/
Are Church Offices still open?
Church Offices remains open with staff working from home and all calls redirected. This includes payroll, finance, accounting, insurance, property, trust services and the Trustee Investment Fund. Please contact us at any time.
Jeof Falls and Peter Merrick are receiving many emails of enquiry, which they encourage and to which they will be responding as quickly as they can.