I grew up in churches, went to a conservative Bible college, preached for a few years, and "led the singing" in the old-style services, and have been a "worship leader" with my guitar in small churches and small groups over the years.
When I was growing up, mostly we sang hymns and gospel songs in church services (the difference between the two was, gospel songs had choruses, hymns did not). Hymns had come into fashion in the English-speaking churches around 1700 and after; gospel songs started with the revivals of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Before 1700 many sang the Psalms--passages from that book of the Bible set to music.
During my time in college things began to change. Some new music was coming out, from several writers, that did not fit exactly in either category. They were more complex than the simple choruses used in children's church services and youth groups, and had some feel of modern popular music.
By the mid-1970s the church I was part of was getting in on the new style music at least part of the time (we still used the hymnbooks, too).
There were several factors influencing the new music. I was in Cincinnati, a city where Roman Catholics were a majority of the population. Most Protestant churches also had some ex-Catholic among them. So it was fairly easy for us to pick up on the songs coming out of the Catholic folk mass trend that started in the mid-'60s. The Jesus Movement was going on a bit later, and added more music. Meanwhile, the Charismatic Movement was starting up, and producing new music also. A lot of this music initially had a lot in common with the folk music trends of the period. And in the churches I was in for some years, we did not have fancy sound systems. We did not have "bands" for worship; if we had a couple of guys who could play guitar and take turns leading the singing, that was good enough. And some of the music would be written by local people. Some of it was Scripture verses set to music. Some was borrowed from the new movement of Messianic Jews.
As the Jesus Freaks and the Charismatics began converting rock musicians, the new music began to change. There were bands and sound systems, and vocalists to do solo parts. It did not happen all at once, but it began. And new companies sprang up to market the new music. One was associated with the Vineyard churches. Another was Hosanna Music, which started putting out new albums 6 times a year, and books of music scores for the musicians. Even at the time (late '80s) I was getting a sense that they were falling into the pattern that prevailed in the regular recording industry in Nashville--each new cassette/CD had one or two songs that were good or even great, and the rest were either so-so or even just filler. And for smaller churches one problem was that their musicians got the idea they had to sound like the big worship bands on the recordings. All too often they did not have the number of musicians, or highly skilled musicians, to make it work. And over time it leaked out that Hosanna was recording a live worship set, but then taking it back to the studio and dubbing in additional instruments!
Even then, not all were happy with the developments. From 1995 to 2005 I was part of a Vineyard Church in Cincinnati. The head of the national Vineyard organization until his death in November of 1997 was John Wimber. He was also pastor of the Vineyard Church in Anaheim, CA. He had a background in music--he had been a member and manager of the group "The Righteous Brothers" until he became a Christian in 1963. He walked away from that life and went into ministry. But he also wrote a number of worship songs. Some time after his death I read an interview with his widow, Carol Wimber. She said her husband was concerned with the direction praise and worship music was heading; he thought worship songs should be kept simple enough that the average guitar player could play them for his small group gathering (no sound system, no band, no backup singers).
Over the years since, what I have been hearing from all over is that in many churches, worship music has turned into a spectator thing. In the '70s and early '80s many of us sang our hearts out, standing the whole time, shouting out lyrics, going off script and singing choruses over and over, even sometimes making up new verses to a song. In recent years, reports I have seen talk of people sitting and watching the band perform, as if it were a concert.
After 2009 I became what some of us called a "free-range Christian"--not part of any organized church. I looked for a house church, but in Indianapolis there isn't much of them. I did find a group of several Christian families that got together regularly, not even as formal as a house church; some of that group moved away, but others of us still get together a couple of times a month. But I got away from the Contemporary Christian Music field and the praise and worship music market. For a couple of years after my divorce, I was attending a local church in town, primarily for their men's fellowship group. Their services were a mix of the old hymns and what was apparently more recent modern worship music. What they were using did not impress me--the melodies especially were kind of blah. I do not know for certain whether that is where the whole field has gone or if it was just the tastes of the local group.
But one thing I have learned over the years is that no Christian movement goes on forever. I have been part of several--the small group movement, the charismatic movement, praise and worship movement, home schooling, and more. But the useful life of any of them seems to be in the range of 20-40 years. After that, they don't go away--but they quit "moving"--they don't really break any new ground, they just stay settle down and keep doing the same old things. And the praise and worship movement is following the same pattern.
Personally, I have always loved music. My own family was musical--my two sons are fifth-generation guitar players (plus other instruments). I sang in church choirs and high school choir and ensemble. I still love a lot of the old hymns and the new music as well. But I have also come to the conclusion over the years that music is only part of worship. I have seen too many people who were active in worship music, but their personal lives did not match what they sang. This goes clear back to my high school years as well as modern incidents.
I have come to believe that musical worship can express your Christian life, but the music is not all of it--if it is all of it, you are not there yet. There really is not that much in the New Testament that talks about what goes on in church meetings. There is much, much, MUCH more about how you live all week. There is a saying attributed to the Amish: "Work is worship." I think a lot of Christians need to learn to live that.
I am going to close this post with the words to one of those Scripture songs we sang back in the day, from Micah 6:8:
He has shown thee, O man,
What is good and what the Lord requires of thee (repeat)
But to do justly,
And to love mercy,
And to walk humbly with thy God.
