In its "words only" form, it was a thin booklet of 282 pieces, with a wide mixture of hymns and worship songs.
Some conservative Christians saw it as a way of bringing what they perceived as charismatic choruses into mainstream church worship.
A new edition Mission Praise Combined was released in 1993; featuring an extra two hundred songs; expanding the collection from 647 to 798 items and renumbering and reindexing all items in approximate alphabetical order.
Complete Mission Praise: 25th Anniversary Edition was published in 2009 and added another 106 new songs resulting in 1,250 overall.
The Mission Praise 30th Anniversary Edition was published on 15 January 2015 with 1,385 hymns and songs.