A "modern worship renaissance" helped make it clear any musical style was acceptable if true believers were using it to praise God. Prior to the late 1990s, many felt that Sunday morning was a time for hymns, and young people could have their music on the other six days. Supporters of traditional worship hoped the newer styles were a fad, while younger people cited Psalms 96:1, "Sing to the Lord a new song". Integrity Media, Maranatha! Music and Vineyard were already publishing newer styles of music. Īs of the early 1990s, songs such as " Lord, I Lift Your Name on High", " Shine, Jesus, Shine" and " Shout to the Lord" had been accepted in many churches. Youth Praise, published in 1966, was one of the first and most famous collections of these songs and was compiled and edited by Michael Baughen and published by the Jubilate Group. These early songs for communal singing were characteristically simple. Ĭhurches began to adopt some of these songs and the styles for corporate worship. The Joystrings were one of the first Christian pop groups to appear on television, in Salvation Army uniform, playing Christian beat music.
By borrowing the conventions of popular music, the antithesis of this stereotype, the church restated the claims of the Bible through Christian lyrics, and thus sent the message that Christianity was not outdated or irrelevant. Some Christians felt that the church needed to break from its stereotype as being structured, formal and dull to appeal to the younger generation. Amateur musicians from these groups began playing Christian music in a popular idiom. In the mid-20th century, Christian Unions in university environments hosted evangelistic talks and provided biblical teaching for their members, Christian cafés opened with evangelistic aims, and church youth groups were set up. In the early 1950s, the Taizé Community in France started to attract youths from several religious denominations with worship hymns based on modern melodies.
Contemporary Christian worship in Lifehouse International Church, Tokyo, Japan