About 50 years ago, young people began to bring their guitars to church. Those young people, converted from the hippie culture (and belonged to the movement Jesus People), struck a chord that would resonate around the world. Modern worship was born.
In the decades that followed, the phenomenon known as “praise and worship music” or “contemporary worship music” developed. It is by no means a monolithic movement. However, it has become an easily recognizable sound and style, as evidenced by the many parodies that make fun of its more predictable characteristics. The dust has settled after the so-called “worship wars” of the 1980s and 1990s, and it seems that contemporary worship has emerged victorious in many spheres of evangelical life.
Now that contemporary worship music has become not only a major feature of North American evangelical identity, but also a multibillion-dollar industry, it is worth asking an often neglected question: how does music shape us? of contemporary worship?
Worship music as a sociological phenomenon
Monique Ingalls, assistant professor of music at Baylor University, addresses this question in her book, focusing on the decade from 2007 to 2017, and examines modern worship music through sociological lenses.
Ingalls’ focus is worship music as a sociological phenomenon, so he says little in the way of theological interplay in worship lyrics. Still, Ingalls’ insightful account of how contemporary worship shapes evangelical life proves the truth of the axiom that “the medium is the message.” In other words, contemporary worship music not only reflects evangelical values and convictions about how to engage with God, but also profoundly influences those values and convictions.
For me, as a church elder, worship leader, and hymn writer who “grew up” musically in a variety of modern worship settings, Ingalls’s book made me reflect on the unintended consequences of contemporary Christian music.
So here are four areas for reflection, which I invite you to consider with me.
1. The worship experience
First, I have reflected on how the notion of experience it has become a crucial expectation in contemporary worship. Ingalls says that the language of the “worship experience” is pervasive, not only in what Christians say they look for when they sing modern songs, but also in marketing materials for concerts and worship events (p. 22). These worshipers hope to have “a personal encounter with God during congregational singing,” which they describe as God “speaking,” “ministering,” or “feeling real” (p. 85). It is worth noting that these people describe worship more as an experience of receiving God’s blessing, rather than responding to God’s majesty in praise. Does it reveal that shift towards me that our worship is sometimes not as God-centered as we hope it to be?
Similarly, some Christians use the language of being “worship addicts” when describing their desire to listen to contemporary worship music. Ingalls suggests what may be behind this: “The language of addiction (speaking like this) is evidence of the overwhelming success of major brands of worship in not only responding to perceived needs, but also in actively producing that need.” desire” (p. 204). The question is: desire for what? My goal as a leader in singing is to foster a desire for God and his glory. My fear, however, is that in the contemporary worship movement, we have too often trained people to seek a caffeine rush of emotional happiness.
My fear is that the contemporary worship movement has, too often, trained people to seek a caffeine rush of emotional happiness.
2. Better than church?
Second, Ingalls led me to consider how contemporary worship music in parachurch settings changes evangelical expectations of worship singing in the church. Many people Ingalls interviewed said they found the music at worship concerts and youth conferences more appealing than the weekly singing in their own congregations. Due to the quality of the professional production and a more conducive environment for joint interaction, one young woman concluded that the singing she heard at a concert promoted a more authentic expression in her than her singing at her church (p. 53). Others experienced worship at a conference as “holier than church” because of the thrill of worshiping with thousands of anonymous fellow pilgrims who have come together for a special purpose (p. 102).
There is an irony here. One of the original aims of the contemporary style was to awaken a more passionate singing in the church, to bring a new participation to replace a cold formality. But Ingalls’ interviews made me wonder if contemporary worship music, at least as experienced by many evangelicals at concerts and conferences, has become so professionalized and emotionally charged that singing with the local church simply seems lackluster by comparison. Stage lights, fog machines, and blaring sound are not prohibited in Scripture, but when worship concerts that include these components report what evangelicals understand to be “authentic” worship, then we must ask what results they will be obtained when the same things are expected in church services.
If our musical experiences at parachurch events result in low regard for the holy privilege of singing with the church Jesus founded, then perhaps something is wrong.
It is, first of all, in the church that the word of Christ dwells abundantly in us as we sing (Col. 3:16). The church, embodied in visible and local congregations, is the only institution that Jesus has promised will endure to the end (Mt. 16:18). If the musical intensity of a concert is our benchmark for optimal worship, then singing at a church service filled with noisy children, senior citizens, and people from different cultural backgrounds will disappoint us. But it seems to be the Biblical norm. And if our musical experiences at parachurch events result in low regard for the holy privilege of singing with the church Jesus founded, then perhaps something is wrong.
3. The YouTubing of Worship
Third, a similar question arises from Ingalls’ research on the prevalence of YouTube “worship videos” being used in churches. Some small congregations have turned to online music videos produced by major worship media companies to accompany their singing. This “phenomenon was not created simply by a lack of musical or personal resources; it was also because in these small churches there was a growing feeling that they could not keep up with the new musical norm” (p. 197). Somehow, though I trust it was unintentional, the contemporary worship movement has conveyed that a certain level of production quality is necessary to achieve faithful modern worship.
In this sense, contemporary worship has come a long way from the simple guitars and choruses of the 1970s, which were designed to democratize congregational singing so that more people can participate in a meaningful way. In the 2000s, contemporary worship media embraced the values of polished production and mass-market appeal. But as modern worship has become more professionalized, it has led at least some church leaders to conclude that they should ditch the human musicians and leave the accompaniment to virtual experts.
The good news is that God gives each congregation everything it needs to serve him. 1 Corinthians 12:18 reminds us that “God has placed each of the members in the body as he pleased.” If that means a church can’t produce the same quality of music they see at worship concerts and on YouTube, then we can trust God’s good purposes. He cares far more about the state of our hearts than our band’s ability to recreate the sound of an online video.
4. The power of the image
A fourth area to think about is how contemporary worship has become a visual phenomenon, not just an auditory one. According to Ingalls, the digital projection of letters and background images is “pervasive” in churches with a contemporary style (p. 174). She argues: “The worship experience has become irreducibly audiovisual, combining devotional musical practices that accompany contemporary worship and the visual piety that surrounds the image” (p. 179).
Many Protestants have long been hesitant to incorporate visual elements into worship, resulting from a common view that the second commandment prohibits not just idol worship, but any visual representation of God. For some, this implies that even so-called “visual aids,” aside from the God-given symbols of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, can distract our wandering hearts. It is fascinating, then, to hear Ingalls comment on “how essential the visual dimension has become within the evangelical worship experience,” even cataloging what kinds of images function as “evangelical ‘icons’ during worship” (p. 179). Although he doesn’t give hard numbers, his research suggests that many churches not only project the words of songs to the congregation, but also use a lot of images and videos in the background. Scenes from nature and images of anonymous worshipers are especially common.
The forms of worship we adopt are not neutral. They will shape the next generation of worshipers.
The future of contemporary Christian music
Contemporary Christian music is here to stay, at least that’s what we see in the future. I am grateful for your strengths. He has provided a vehicle for millions of people to honor God through the vernacular of music.
A book like Ingalls’s, however, calls us to be semper reformada, always in reform. I pray that studies like hers will help those of us involved in the contemporary worship movement to understand more clearly the ways in which our…