A Thumbnail Sketch of
How We Arrived at Worship Choruses

Worship choruses are almost a "given" in Protestant churches today. How did we arrive at this point? Here's a very brief, thumbnail sketch of English congregational song from from 1517 to the present. It's fascinating story and at times shocking!

During the first decades of the Protestant Reformation (1517 AD), music in the Lutheran and Calvinistic churches took very different directions. Luther sought out poets, and invited them write original poems expressing Christian theology for congregational song. Because of Luther's influence, the arts flourished in Germany. Calvin, however, permitted only the singing of Old Testament psalms set to meters--and that without instrumental accompaniment.

Calvin's ideas (not Luther's) were exported to Britain where they became the accepted practice. Since only the singing of Old Testament psalms was permitted in church services, for roughly 200 years (1500-1700) no songs about Jesus were sung in English churches! And no New Testament theology was sung! Doesn't that seem odd and unreasonable to us today?

Around the year 1700 a young man living in London effected significant change. Issac Watts (now know as the "Father of English Hymnody") rebelled against this state of affairs and consciously made up his mind to rewrite the Old Testament psalms from a New Testament perspective (give them a New Testament flavor), and to write original lyrics about Jesus and New Testament theology. His hymnbooks were staunchly resisted for about 75 years. Only gradually did pastors change their ways and begin to approve of the idea of singing original lyrics in church services. By the 19^th C, Watts hymns (after his death) became huge favorites in all British churches and in North America too. In fact pastors everywhere began to imitate Watts and to write their own hymns!

Around 1840, a new form came into being--the Gospel Song. They were first used in evangelistic crusades to present the Gospel to the non-saved, but became so popular and "catchy" with the people that they gradually found their way into evangelical churches seervices (especially). Fanny Crosby, who wrote Blessed Assurance and To God be The Glory, is one of the most famous gospel song writers. Gospel songs differed musically from hymns in that they had not only verses of text, but a "catchy" refrain or chorus. The refrain and the new, lilting rhythms were the new features. Hymns and Gospel Songs continued to be sung in churches until the 1960's when something new happened again.

During the 1960's in Costa Mesa California, a number of hippies were saved and became known as "Jesus People." The Calvary Chapel church in Costa Mesa California encouraged these young people to write music and to lead worship. Maranatha! Music, originally a ministry within the Calvary Chapel church, began to publish these worship songs, and they gained in popularity. Worship songs are different from Gospel songs in that they are mini-poems. They don't have multiple stanzas of text like the Gospel songs, and they are worship songs, not testimony songs.

Around the 1980's the Pentecostal theologian and worship leader, Judson Cornwall, clearly articulated the concept of "Praise and Worship," or "The Journey into the Holy of Holies," or "Worship in the Outer and Inner Court." All of these titles refer to the same worship style that employs a seamless sequence of worship songs. Worship choruses were the perfect match for this style and gradually reached the prominence they hold today.

But remember this, for 200 years English Protestants sang only the 150 psalms from the Old Testament. Their "hymnbook," so to speak, was frozen, and there were no songs about Jesus or the cross. The people, though, became immersed in the language, piety, and content of the psalms--which was a healthy thing. Then in the 1700's Watts came along and wrote classic hymns about Jesus and the cross, such as When I Survey the Wondrous Cross. For 75 years these hymns were fiercely resisted. From 1840 to 1960 Gospel songs became the new, popular form.

I think that each of these forms--metrical psalms, hymns, gospel songs, and worship choruses--edify believers and speak to non-believers in unique ways. Each is useful and should continue to be used and revised (as necessary) today. The sad fact is that our youth today, however, are acquainted with only a handful of hymns and Gospel Songs. They are quickly losing contact with their magnificent past, their "cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 11). Something needs to be done about this. I would also like to see a new genres of songs arise.

If you want to look into this more, see chapter in chapter one of The New Worship.

(c)Copyright 2001 Dr. Barry Liesch