That, in a nutshell, is the essence of intellectual property, which copyright is meant to protect. Every piece of a worship service involves intellectual property. This means that there can be copyright issues with every piece of a worship service.

Happily, religious organizations have long been given latitude in the fair use of copyrighted material. However, there is still confusion about many of the rules, especially when recording or streaming worship services.

In general, there are two types of copyrights related to worship services -- one related to the creation of a text or piece or art and one related to performance or presentation. These differences are easiest to understand with music, where artists frequently perform songs written by other people.

So, how do you get permission to use copyrighted material? Let's start with the performance aspect first. Presumably, the minister, musicians, and others give their permission for the use of their presentations and performances.

In general, you cannot use recordings of anyone else's performances because it is extremely difficult to gain proper permission from all copyright holders. However, recorded music may be used in a live worship service that is not recorded or broadcast for public use -- this falls under fair use for religious organizations, provided that you've legally purchased or obtained the recording.

Now let's turn attention to gaining permission to use material upon which the presentations and performances are based. If your worship leaders create the material -- someone writes the sermon, composes the hymn, or draws the bulletin cover -- it is their material to share and they give implicit permission for its use. If the piece is in the public domain (usually by age or because it was created by someone who cannot or chooses not to copyright it), you can use it without permission.

Otherwise, you need permission to use everything written or created by someone else. Often, this is gained by purchasing resources that grant permission. You buy hymnals for everyone in worship to use in singing. The organist purchases the sheet music to "In a Godda da Vida." Your elder reads a prayer from a worship book in the church library that explicitly gives permission for the use of the contents in worship services.

For everything else, you need to obtain explicit permission, usually through purchasing a license. This is true if you are reproducing copyrighted material (like song lyrics or artwork), if you are recording copyrighted material, or if you are broadcasting/streaming copyrighted material. And, once you've gotten the permission or license, you need to properly show your permission to use -- using the language explicitly required in your license. Usually, you also need to report your use of the licensed/permitted material to those who represent the copyright holder.

This seems like a lot to consider (and it is only a brief summary of copyright issues). It is important that we are faithful not only in our worship of God, but also in respecting the work and creativity of God's people.