Contemporary worship music
In the early 1950s, the Taizé Community in France started to attract youths from several religious denominations with worship hymns based on modern melodies.
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".
A "modern worship renaissance" helped make it clear any musical style was acceptable if true believers were using it to praise God.
[4] More recently songs are displayed using projectors on screens at the front of the church, and this has enabled greater physical freedom, and a faster rate of turnover in the material being sung.
In particular the charismatic movement is characterised by its emphasis on the Holy Spirit, through a personal encounter and relationship with God, that can be summed up in agape love.
Slang is used on occasion (for example 'We wanna see Jesus lifted high'[7]) and imperatives ('Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, I want to see You'[8]), demonstrating the friendly, informal terms charismatic theology encourages for relating to God personally.
The metaphorical language of the lyrics is subjective, and therefore does risk being misinterpreted; this emphasis on personal encounter with God does not always balance with intellectual understanding.
As in traditional hymnody, some images, such as captivity and freedom, life and death, romance, power and sacrifice, are employed to facilitate relationship with God.
[16] Because, in common with hymns, such music is sung communally, there can be a practical and theological emphasis on its accessibility, to enable every member of the congregation to participate in a corporate act of worship.
This often manifests in simple, easy to learn melodies, in a mid-vocal range, repetition, familiar chord progressions and a restricted harmonic palette.
The consumer culture surrounding CWM has prompted both criticism and praise, and as Pete Ward deals with in his book "Selling Worship", no advance is without both positive and negative repercussions.
Michael Vasey writes: "Scripture is, of course, full of lament – and devotes its finest literary creation to warning the godly against quick and easy answers.
[citation needed] Pope John Paul II, concerning the role of music in regard to worship, wrote, "today, as yesterday, musicians, composers, liturgical chapel cantors, church organists and instrumentalists must feel the necessity of serious and rigorous professional training.
They should be especially conscious of the fact that each of their creations or interpretations cannot escape the requirement of being a work that is inspired, appropriate and attentive to aesthetic dignity, transformed into a prayer of worship when, in the course of the liturgy, it expresses the mystery of faith in sound.
"[22] Some have noted that contemporary worship songs often reflect the social climate of individualism as the lyrics emphasize personal relationship with God, even within a group context.
[26] The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) includes "Thy Word Is a Lamp" by Amy Grant[27] and "Take Our Bread" by Joe Wise.
[29][30][31][32] In 2019, the U.S. radio network Air1 (which was previously devoted to Christian hits) changed its format to focus primarily on worship music.
