A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship: Understanding the Ideas That Reshaped the Protestant Church

by Lester Ruth, Lim Swee Hong

Christianity Today 2023 Book Award Finalist (History & Biography)

New forms of worship have transformed the face of the American church over the past fifty years. Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, including interviews with dozens of important stakeholders and key players, this volume by two worship experts offers the first comprehensive history of Contemporary Praise & Worship. The authors provide insight into where this phenomenon began and how it reshaped the Protestant church. They also emphasize the span of denominational, regional, and ethnic expressions of contemporary worship.

Genres: History, Church History, Theology, Christian, Religion, Music, Faith

368 pages, Hardcover

Published December 7, 2021

Reviews

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a gift to the church. The amount of time and research that went into this work is undeniable. The work answers the question of how our worship took the shape that it does today. They go all the way back to the 1940-1950's to show the origins of contemporary worship. They also take pains to show the development of the theological ideas that guide so many churches approach to worship.

Most of the people and churches discussed in this book will probably be unknown. This book really is a comprehensive history. It is focused on the history of these ideas and tracing them as they developed.

The book is very much a historical and academic book. If you want a popular level overview of worship, this is not your book. But if you are used to reading longer biographies, or other historical works than you may enjoy this.

The level of scholarship and detail is impressive. Anyone writing about praise and worship should be required to interact with this book. If I was teaching a class on worship, this would be required reading.

[Conrade Yap · Rating 5 out of 5]

What questions would pop up when we talk about worship? For many Churchgoers, it is about the music and the songs they sing during service. Others would then talk about hymns, spiritual songs, and contemporary praise and worship. When we talk about the latter, one of the most contentious issues would be the battle between traditional vs contemporary worship. Generally speaking, this is another way of pitting old-style hymns against new-style contemporary songs. It could be a generational divide. It could also be in terms of personal tastes or theological differences. Some might even start a debate about musical instruments such as the legitimate use of electric guitars, drums, and synthesizers, etc. complete with neon lights. Which leads us to a question less often asked: What is the history of the contemporary Praise&Worship songs? Now, that's a question! In their interactions with students, believers, and regular churchgoers, two professors of music and worship have come together to share with us the questions that have inspired their theological thoughts and reflections. Readers familiar with the wide range of contemporary P&W worship songs would be delighted to read about famous organizations, songwriters, and singers like Bethel Church, Jack Hayford, John Wimber, Hillsong Church, Sandi Patty, Sandy Yu of Stream of Praise Ministries, Maranatha Singers, Integrity Music, Elevation Church, Saddleback, and many more. Some of the questions they considered include:

- How is music used to inspire people toward experiencing God's presence?
- How dependent is worship on the use of good technology?
- What are the roles of music, worship service, and pastoral ministry?
- What is the background behind the contemporary music we have today?

Answering all of the above, especially the latter, the authors lead us through the history rivers: a) River of Praise & Worship; and b) River of Contemporary Praise & Worship. They do this by focusing on three areas:
1) Theologies
2) People
3) Worship practices

Theologically, they compare the desire for "presence" versus the liturgies of "purpose." "Presence" is essentially about experiencing and praising God with songs that promote the manifestation of God's presence with the people. Based on the theological conviction that God inhabits the praises of His People, worshipers believe that such Praise & Worship is a gift from God to be used to enjoy the manifestation of God's Spirit in the midst. The other river focuses on the purpose of connecting worship of God with the needs of the people. Thus, "Purpose," is like the seeker-sensitive style of attracting and maintaining the interest of worshipers in the Church. Spurred by the Church Growth Movement in the 80s, the desire for meeting needs, resulted in many churches creating separate services for contemporary music vs traditional hymns. On People, relatively speaking, the strategy of "Presence" pays more attention to enabling the worshipers gathered to experience God, while the one on "Purpose" tends to be focused on attracting people from outside. In practice, many churches would be doing or would claim to be doing a bit of both. Moreover, the Praise & Worship trend grows to become familiar rituals beyond the Church to include other gatherings such as conferences, fellowship groups, Bible studies, and camps. On Worship Practices, the Praise & Worship movement began in a Pentecostal environment way back in 1946, at a time when there was a strong desire for experience. From the Latter Rain in the 50s to the Charismatic Movement in the 80s, the popularity of the Praise & Worship styles continued on a global scale. This set the stage for the creation of the Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), an organization that manages songs of praise used in churches that adopt the contemporary Praise & Worship styles. Soon many mainline denominations also came on board. Megachurches began to pick up steam and experienced phenomenal growth.

The authors trace the growth of the P&W movement from the 40s to the present; from the early beginnings in Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada, to the global scale. They conclude by observing how the two rivers inform and inspire each other in what they refer to as a "confluence of the two rivers" into what we now call Contemporary Praise & Worship.

My Thoughts
==============
Nothing occurs without context. The rise of Contemporary Christian Music happens out of a context of desiring deeper worship in God. That is indeed good news as it demonstrates how the Spirit has been leading the people of God. In tracing the history of the P&W movement, readers get a chance to glimpse at the way this has been done. As the famous Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard once said, "Life is understood backwards but it must be lived forwards." Thus, it is only when we look back can we better understand why things happened as they did. One of the key findings is the way the Pentecostal Church was used to spark the fire of P&W revival. This is because the Pentecostal movement had placed "praise" at the forefront of their liturgical services. I am aware of many other denominations, especially the conservative ones, that are suspicious of anything coming from a Pentecostal background. I think it is important not to throw away the baby with the bathwater. Granted, there are some excesses in some Pentecostal churches related to misguided attribution of the work of the Spirit. That should not mean we can be dogmatic about how the Spirit must or should move. For that matter, even the prosperity gospel churches do have powerful stories of the impact of the P&W styles they use in their congregations. Moreover, if one experiences more of God, who are we to stop that? Whatever it is, I think we ought to humbly learn the beauty (and power) of worship, albeit from a Pentecostal origin.

In every generation, there is a search for more meaningful worship. What works in the 50s might not necessarily work in the 60s, and so on. Churches that catch the movement did not just copy the format lock, stock, and barrel. They adapted it according to their congregational make-up. This is a key aspect we can learn from. By learning from the historical roots of P&W, we can start our own adaptation. Having said that, change is difficult everywhere. People are often creatures of habit and changing anything pertaining to worship can be most difficult. Consider the context of the first murder in the world, where Cain and Abel were players who worshiped God differently. The latter gave his best while the former retains the best for himself. I think as long as we offer our best, God knows and God will bless accordingly.

For those interested in the past, present, and future thrusts of the contemporary P&W scene, this book is a gem that is not to be missed.

Lester Ruth (PhD, University of Notre Dame) is research professor of Christian worship at Duke Divinity School in Durham, North Carolina. He is a historian of Christian worship with a particular interest in the history of Contemporary Praise & Worship.

Lim Swee Hong (PhD, Drew University) is Deer Park Associate Professor of Sacred Music at Emmanuel College of Victoria University, University of Toronto, in Toronto, Ontario. He has taught in the United States, Canada, and in his native Singapore and often leads global seminars and conferences dealing with worship and sacred music.

Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.

conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Baker Academic and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

[Emma James · Rating 5 out of 5]

I deeply appreciated this book.

It is a work of scholarship, academic in tone, so if you are looking for a popular summary of the rise of contemporary forms of worship, this is not it.

However, this is a well-researched work which looks at the theological underpinnings of the movements that combined to give us the liturgical and musical styles prevalent in a wide variety of North American churches (and beyond). It also connects those movements to preceding theological movements in Protestantism. The book does not focus much on the “worship wars,” nor is it a study of musical styles. It is much more interested in exploring the driving theological and pragmatic forces within each liturgical movement and how they came together.

As someone who grew up in churches straddling traditional and contemporary styles in the 90’s and early 2000’s (at the time when the Pentecostal & Church Growth driven movements converged into one massive contemporary style of worship), I found the book full of eye-opening information and connections that helped me understand how we got to where we are.

[Daniel Silliman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. Essential reading to understand how American evangelicalism sounds today, and also an excellent example of the imagination-and-infrastructure approach to evangelical history, as opposed to the too-common political and theological essentialism. The authors connect a lot of things I hand't connected before. Really worth reading to understand evangelicalism.

[Mallory Johnson]

A very kind and thorough treatment of two branches of worship theology that are so often denigrated! I remember being at Samford when this book was published and getting to talk with Lester Ruth about his work on it, and I can say now that I deeply respect his commitment to fair and accurate writing. This book was super thorough, clearly well-researched, and sort of the first of its kind?? I hope that anyone involved in “church culture” (lol) would read this book to gain a deeper understanding and empathy for the Praise and Worship / Contemporary Worship streams of theology.

[George P. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Walk into many American churches this Sunday morning — especially if they’re new or nondenominational — and you’re likely to experience the same things:

People dress casually. The auditorium looks like a theater, complete with high-tech sound and lighting systems. Songs sound like pop rock, lyrics are projected on high-def screens, and you sing for at least 15–20 minutes. The pastor’s message is Bible-based, but also relevant to your felt needs. A final song sends you out on a high note.

This style of worship, though quite common now, is relatively new. When I was growing up in the 1970s and ’80s, people still dressed up for church, sat on pews, and sang from hymnals. The lights never dimmed, and we almost always sang the Doxology at the end of service. I entered vocational ministry as part of a church planting team in 1990 and vividly recall the awkward transition from the traditional services of my childhood to the contemporary services so prevalent today. Perhaps you do too.

Lester Ruth and Lim Swee Hong detail the history of this transition in their new book, A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship. They focus on “how two liturgical theologies  —two ideas — reshaped Protestant worship in the second half of the twentieth century.” Those ideas can be summed up in two words: “presence” and “people.”

(When the authors use the terms “liturgy” or “liturgical,” they are simply referring to the order of service or matters related to worship.)

Presence
The first idea emerged among the mid-20th-century Pentecostals affiliated with the Latter Rain movement. It has a precise point of origin and a definite biblical proof text.

The point of origin was Wednesday, Jan. 2, 1946. Reg Layzell was preparing to lead worship services at a Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada (PAOC) congregation in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Desperate because God had seemed absent from the previous Sunday’s and Tuesday’s services, Layzell spent the morning fasting and praying.

At noon, while praying, Psalm 22:3 came to his mind: “But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel” (KJV). Ruth and Hong comment: “If God does indeed inhabit the praises of his people, Layzell realized, then he ought to fill the church building with the praises of God.” Praise is the way the people of God experience the manifest presence of God.

Once God had manifested His presence, His people moved from largely unstructured praise into a more structured order of worship. The authors thus refer to this idea and the movement it inspired as “Praise & Worship,” a term participants themselves used.

Although Praise & Worship emerged within a Pentecostal milieu, it divided North American Pentecostalism. Denominations such as the PAOC and the Assemblies of God (AG) criticized both the theological idea and the Latter Rain movement that grew out of it.

Eventually, however, Praise & Worship went mainstream in those denominations too through the influence of mediating figures such as Judson Cornwall. Other channels through which it became prominent include the Charismatic Renewal movement among mainstream Protestants, the Jesus People, and the Third-Wave Pentecostalism associated with the Vineyard Fellowship.

These various expressions of Praise & Worship united around “four core beliefs,” according to Ruth and Hong:

"(1) God’s people can encounter and experience the divine experience through praise; (2) praise and the subsequent liturgical activity, worship, are primarily musical activities; (3) when and where God’s presence is manifest, God is active among the people, who should be thoroughly active to God in return; (4) this whole approach to Praise & Worship is God’s gift to the church, as can be seen and understood in the Bible."

The first belief flows directly from Psalm 22:3. The second gives rise to the importance of “worship leaders” who direct the “flow” of music. The third is seen in the widespread presence of activities like dancing, flag waving, and Jericho marches in Praise & Worship services. The fourth belief has to do with the movement’s theological method, which focuses on proof-texting praise verses in the Bible as well as the use of typology to provide a biblical foundation for its distinctive practices.

People
Ruth and Hong term the second theological idea that reshaped Protestant liturgy “Contemporary Worship,” a term advocates also used. Its key biblical verse is 1 Corinthians 9:22: “I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.”

If the problem Praise & Worship advocates sought to solve was the absence of God from the felt experience of His people, the problem Contemporary Worship advocates sought to solve was the absence of people from church itself. “Specifically, the theological idea of Contemporary Worship was a certain mindset of striving for effective outreach by Christians to others,” write Ruth and Hong.

And while Praise & Worship began among mid-20th-century Pentecostals, Contemporary Worship began among both mainline and evangelical Protestants at the same time. Both groups felt a growing gap between churches’ liturgical forms and the experiences of contemporary people. They developed different versions of Contemporary Worship in order to bridge this gap.

Praise & Worship developed a mature, complex theology for its beliefs and practices. By contrast, Contemporary Worship’s theology was more instinctual than reflective. Its basic insight was that there is a difference between the content of the gospel, which cannot be changed, and the forms of its presentation, which can be changed.

Rather than seeking biblical prooftexts or precedents for its specific practices, then, Contemporary Worship simply asked whether more people were coming to church because of the use of a specific form. Church growth became the theological imprimatur on contemporary methods. This theological justification built on the pragmatism that had long characterized North American Protestantism.

Not surprisingly, Contemporary Worship had a long interaction with the Church Growth movement associated with Donald McGavran, C. Peter Wagner, Fuller Theological Seminary, and Robert C. Schuller.

Ruth and Hong focus on four mature examples of Contemporary Worship: Willow Creek Community Church, a nondenominational congregation led by Bill Hybels; Saddleback Church, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and led by Rick Warren; Community Church of Joy, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregation led by Walt Kallestad; and Ginghamsburg United Methodist Church, led by Mike Slaughter.

The New Liturgical Normal
Although Praise & Worship and Contemporary Worship emerged from distinct traditions and developed very different emphases, they began to merge by the late 1990s, becoming what Ruth and Hong call “the new liturgical normal” that Protestant worshipers so commonly experience today. This new normal is what the authors refer to as “Contemporary Praise & Worship.”

For me, A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship was both revelatory and helpful. It showed the depth of theological thought and evangelistic pragmatism underlying Praise & Worship and Contemporary Worship, respectively. It helped me understand the reasons behind the ways we now worship. It is an invaluable study that belongs in the library of every pastor and worship leader.

But it also raised a number of questions in my mind:

Given the disagreement among Pentecostals about both the theology and practices of Praise & Worship at the outset of that movement, is Contemporary Praise & Worship the only way Pentecostals can worship today? Or are we free to continue thinking and revising our liturgies?

Regarding Contemporary Worship, are there limits — theological, ethical, liturgical — to our evangelistic pragmatism as it applies to worship services? Or are there some worship forms that must be observed?

A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship demonstrates that Christians have answered those questions differently over the years, within our own lifetimes, even. If that’s the case, we can continue to theologize and change our worship practices, with the goal of drawing constantly nearer to God and to the people whom God loves and desires to save.

Book Reviewed
Lester Ruth and Lim Swee Hong, A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship: Understanding the Ideas that Reshaped the Protestant Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2021).

P.S. If you liked my review, please click “Helpful” on my Amazon review page.

P.P.S. This review is cross-posted from InfluenceMagazine.com.

[Xavier Tan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good outline of the history of two "rivers": One of Praise and Worship ("P&W"), the other of Contemporary Worship ("CW"). The authors go through how these two rivers started from 1946-1965, how they swelled and grew in popularity from 1965-1985, before they intermingled in the 1990s.

The P&W river began with Reg Layzell, a prominent member of the Latter Rain Movement, along with other members of said movement's (re-)interpretation of the KJV translation of Ps 22:3: "[God] inhabitest the praises of Israel". They thus taught that God will inhabit worshippers and bring revival through praise, thus leading to a theology of priestly identity for church musicians and practices such as "long, indefinite periods [of] unscripted, ecstatic congregational singing either in one's known language or in tongues" (Chapter 1).

On the other hand, CW began by observing a need for effective outreach, coupled with 1 Cor 9:22b (this half-verse was frequently cited by CW proponents). CW proponents thus advocated for a change in form while keeping the substance of worship (the gospel) constant. Eventually, as the CW movement gained traction and spawned the Church Growth movement, its proponents began looking at churches like businesses, engaging in market research, describing the pastor as "entrepreneur", and striving to entertain audiences.

On balance, I'm not persuaded by P&W's reliance on one specific translation of Ps 22:3, divorced from the wider Psalm and its theology, and extrapolating so much from it such as a form of worship which seemingly goes against Paul's instruction that all things are to be done in good order (1 Cor 14:40).

I am more sympathetic to the concerns of CW and the need to reach out to people outside the church through familiar forms, though I am sceptical about the way the church is treated like a business. It is indeed important for the Church to be incarnational and to always have the Great Commission on her mind. However, I wonder to what extent the form can change without the underlying message and substance changing as well. Can how a church is run and service liturgy/style really be said to be neutral?

Additionally, I question if CW is as effective as its proponents claim. Sure, it may have spread across the USA like wildfire and brought plenty of people into the Church from the 1940s-90s, but how have these Christians been formed? With over 20 years of hindsight from where the book ends its history, statistics make clear that there is presently an extremely high number of Christians who were brought up in the American Church and are "deconstructing" and/or have rejected the Christianity they were brought up with. While this cannot be entirely credited to CW, I think that CW's overlooking the formative value of worship and the church service had no small part to play in the mis-formation of a generation of Christians. If the church is not intentionally liturgical in countering the mis-formations of secular culture, but instead has its liturgy follow what is popular in the world, is it any wonder that congregants eventually follow the world and turn their back on the Church?

All in all, I found this a good read.

[Josh Lange · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thorough would be a good word to describe this work. The front half of the book kept me engaged as I knew many of the names and have met or been in services with some mentioned. These people and stories told helped to shape my journey as a worship leader. I enjoyed the history as it was told.

I did find the book to be very repetitive which slowed my engagement. The section focusing on Contemporary Worship was a bit long in addition to being very repetitive. However, I can see how the author accomplished their goal of showing the influence of both. I do think the influence of Contemporary Worship was a little over played in regards to sung worship. This would be an important distinction for those in non-denominational churches. When one says worship the thought is not about the whole service, but the sung part of the service. Specifically, the contribution of mainline churches to sung worship would be stretch. Additionally, mainline contribution could be a stretch to those churches listed as CAMEO who made significant contributions to the shape of the whole of a service.

Overall, this is a good history of how worship has been shaped and the impact it has had on the church in North America. I do know this work was specifically centered in North America, but the contribution of the British/Australian worship leaders cannot be missed if we are to understand how worship in North American has been shaped. Their contribution could be more significant than those churches listed in the second section.

[Joel Wentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an outstanding historical study. While it's written in a pretty academic, straightforward (occasionally dry) style, it gets such a high rating from me because of its stellar and comprehensive research, clear argument, and genuinely insightful connections.

The authors trace the roots of what we know as "contemporary praise and worship" back to the 1940s, particularly in two branches: some specific pentecostal revivals and theological innovations, as well as the evangelical-mainline attempt to develop "relevant" evangelistic worship. The confluence of these two "rivers" in the 1990s (as the writers argue) largely accounts for why most evangelical-protestant churches look the way they do today. It's a remarkably illuminating argument, and the historical aspects are unpacked and argued very carefully. This is also not an attempt to critique or judge, but like the best historical writing it merely seeks to describe. The reader can decide for themselves whether or not these developments were/are "good" or not. Incidentally, I must admit that I was surprised at the theological depth that the Pentecostal revivalists and leaders brought to their attempts to reform worship practices in America - this is the exact kind of insight that good and fair historical writing can bring.

It's not the easiest book to read, but I would honestly put it up there as an essential title for anyone who really wants to understand why American evangelicalism developed the way it has.

[Chaim Moore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Couple interesting insights from this work:
1) the reliance (a better word might be centeredness) of the two streams on a verse. Praise and worship relied on Psalm 22:3 and Contemporary worship relied on 1 Cor 9:22. Are these verses used correctly in a hermeneutical sense? That’s another conversation, but an interesting parallel between the two.
2) Ruth and Hong’s strength is the wealth of primary sources and interviews. This is how they gather a lot of history of the Praise and Worship movement. It’s timely, as this generation is retiring and new movements come in. Worship leaders of today in the US would benefit from reading this history and learning their theological origins.
Overall, fun read. I may be biased coming from the movement with the rating, but it’s very deserving.

[Corrica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very detailed and informative book. Since I finished my Master of Sacred Music degree 5 years ago, I haven't read as many academic and detailed books outside of school. If I were in school today, I am sure this would be a welcome addition to classes on congregational song. If I were to teach a seminar in the future, I would include this book to cover an area not often written at such a level.

*I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for my review.

[Thomas Creedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has been an interesting if occasionally over-detailed read. Beautifully produced book from
Baker Academic - and Ruth and Lim have written a fine history. Probably essential for specialists. Well worth reading if the topic interests.

[Seth Bollinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating read, especially since I’ve been leading worship music for a long time. This book helped me understand the theologies behind modern worship music, how they came to be, and the people/institutions who motivated these changes. It was extremely well-researched as well.

[Matthew Gage · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down on of the best books on the music that is filling modern churches. The author's are honest historians that record what was actually written or taught. They leave the reader to make the conclusions on whether the philosophies and practices covered are good or bad.