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

By Lester Ruth and Lim Swee Hong Baker Academic, 2021. 368 pages. $54 (e-book $36)

for many of us, Sunday morning worship consists of guitars, drums and video screens – a far cry from the way our grandparents worshipped. This book uses the metaphor of a river and contends that this river’s headwaters are in, of all places, Canada.

The influence of California hippies in the late 1960s was certainly important, but this book traces the origins farther back to 1946, when a pastor from British Columbia visited a revival in Saskatchewan and became convinced that continuous, extended times of praise were the key to experiencing God’s presence. The praise and worship movement was born. This movement, led by a new style of pastoral musicians, spread throughout North America, mainly among Pentecostals.

While this stream was concerned with God’s presence, another stream of influence was concerned with the absence of young people in church and focused on bridging the gap between traditional worship and modern people. Canadian contributions to this stream include Pierre Berton’s book The Comfortable Pew (1964) and the ideas of Canadian media theorist Marshall McLuhan.

All of this surged in California in the late 1960s, and then again under church growth innovators such as Bill Hybels and Rick Warren, who pragmatically saw contemporary worship music as a strategic tool to attract their target demographic. This book presents an objective account that allows the key figures to make their case in their own words, leaving readers to judge the merits of their arguments. The authors (one of them teaches sacred music at Emmanuel College in Toronto) provide a thorough accounting of how we got where we are, paying particular attention to the theological, biblical and cultural ideas that drove the changes in church worship.

This book is essential reading for anyone wondering about that journey, or the journey that lies ahead.

This movement, led by a new style of pastoral musicians, spread throughout North America, mainly among Pentecostals.