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Moravian Music Foundation

Moravian Music Foundation

Preserving, Sharing, and Celebrating Moravian Musical Culture

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What is the Moravian Church?

What is the Moravian Church?

The Moravian Church traces its origins back to the followers of Jan Hus (1369-1415), a Czech priest and reformer who was executed as a heretic in 1415 (Pope John Paul II officially made public apology for the execution of Jan Hus in 1415 (Dec 18 1999 in Prague)). One of Hus’s contentions, that worship should be in the language of the people, has remained a hallmark of the Moravian Church.

Hus’s followers organized a society called the “Unity of the Brethren” (Unitas Fratrum) in 1457, devoted to piety and congregational participation in worship. For about 200 years this group led a precarious life, mainly in Bohemia, Moravia, and Poland. They made significant contributions in hymnody, theology, and education, but the Counter-Reformation and the Thirty Years’ War nearly destroyed the small church, forcing its remnants underground.

In 1722 some of the descendants of these “Bohemian Brethren” settled on the estate of Count Nicholas von Zinzendorf in Saxony, and under his protection they re-established their church. Almost from that day the Moravian Church, as it came to be known, was highly evangelical, sending out missionaries to places such as Greenland; the West Indies (in 1732, to minister to the slaves); Africa; and the British colonies, coming first to Georgia in 1735. The first permanent Moravian settlement in North America was established in Pennsylvania in 1741 and named Bethlehem. Other settlements were founded soon after, in Nazareth and Lititz, PA; and Bethabara, Bethania, and Salem in North Carolina.

Moravian Beliefs

Always essential to the Moravians has been the emphasis on a “heart religion” of piety and joy; on the role of music in worship and in life; and on education for all. For some fifty to seventy years the American Moravian settlements were primarily closed communities, serving both as places where the Moravians could live the life they chose, and places from which many missionaries were sent out — to the Native Americans, whose languages the Moravians learned, in order to preach in the language of the people.

The Moravian Church has continued to spread, albeit slowly in comparison to other denominations. A reason for its relatively small size is that in evangelizing, the Moravians were not focusing on making more Moravians, but rather simply of winning people to Jesus Christ — who were then encouraged to become a member of whatever denomination they wished! Today, as an extremely rough figure, there are some 58,000 Moravians in the United States, some 100,000 in Central America, and over 350,000 in Africa… as well as very many in Europe, England, Canada, and so on.

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WINSTON-SALEM OFFICE at the ARCHIE K. DAVIS CENTER

457 South Church St.
Winston-Salem, NC 27101

Phone: (336) 725-0651
Email: info@moravianmusic.org

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41 West Locust St
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Phone: (610) 866-3340

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A recent inquiry to MMF - Subject: Copyright/Streaming

 

Dear MMF,

I have a question about copyright and streaming. We have CCLI license and streaming license at my church, but it does not cover many pieces for organ. Would the ASCAP license provide that protection for us to stream and include copyrighted organ music? I’ve read their website, and it seems like it would.  https://www.ascap.com/music-users/types/church-or-ministry

Thanks!

____________________________________________________

Dear Worship Leader,

We have been instructing folks to follow CCLI and OneLicense guidelines, which, as you discovered, unfortunately, rarely cover instrumental/keyboard music.

Yes, it appears as though ASCAP offers a “WorshipCast” streaming license, which is set up in much the same manner as CCLI and OneLicense licenses – i.e., the fee structure is based on worship attendance:

https://apps.christiancopyrightsolutions.com/purchase-license.aspx?svc=wc

A quick click brought up this fee structure:
1 – 199 (in attendance): $284.00
200 – 499 (in attendance): $424.00 (obviously it goes up from here)

Some further good news – the WorshipCast license offered above is controlled by Christian Copyright Solutions (a division of CCLI, and it appears as though purchase of this license would allow you to broadcast both ASCAP and BMI titles, opening up even more possibilities.

I don’t think, however, that this license includes SESAC titles; thus, if you wished to perform anything under the SESAC umbrella (Dan Gawthrop, for instance), you would need to approach that entity directly for a license:

https://www.sesac.com/#!/

Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

Blessings to you in your music ministry!

Gwyneth Michel, Assistant Director, Moravian Music Foundation      – – (with edits by Erik S.)

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Archie K Davis Center

Construction began on the building in the fall of 1999, and the facility was completed and occupied in July 2001. In September 2001, the building was dedicated as the Archie K. Davis Center. More about the man, the building, and a quick, visual tour of our beautiful home.

The Archie K. Davis Center