The 10 Things Wrong With Contemporary Worship Music 

You are SPOT ON my friend. Too many songs today fail to connect the congregation with God, which is the main purpose of a worship leader or team. In far too many churches most of the people have stopped singing, as they can't even hear themselves, let alone anyone else, over the volume of the praise team. It is truly sad.

As a side note, I think there is an 11th thing you forgot: when you're only singing new music, you loose the powerful "nostalgia" factor. Tradition is a pinnacle of faith-- whether we consciously think is should be or not. Singing the hymns your mother hummed to herself while cooking dinner, or the one you were told was played at your grandparent's wedding has the power to deeply connect us into a service. Or think of all the classic Christmas hymns that prepare us for the season! I can't think of a single contemporary Christmas song that hits with the same exuberance, power, and.. well, joy, as "Joy to the World". I went to a Christmas service last year that only had one old, "classic" Christmas hymn... I don't even remember which it was. It was un-singable: purely acoustic and slowed waaay down so it would be ~moody~ and ~thought-provoking~. No one knew how to sing along. It was silly-- awkward even. And I don't have a problem with singing new music: it can be refreshing! Every generation should have songs which reflect what is happening in their time and place! And, sure, a lot of the old hymns are dull, or complicated, or haven't aged well, but plenty of them are still great and worth singing and being part of the lasting history of the church. All this is to say: we need more music selections that are thoughtfully curated, and not just "popular and cool."

It makes me cry seeing the classic hymns overtaken by today's worship songs. I stay alone in the weekdays as a student. I longed for Sundays the most, to go to church and worship and also meet friends and cheer up. But recently, the church I attend started singing these CCMs. I dont feel it anymore. Makes me soo sad.

John, this is a great talk. I lead worship in my church, more often than not using contemporary songs. Often times I see these kinds of lists and they're full of straw men and cheap shots - they give me nothing but eye rolls. Your solid, well presented, arguments give me something work with - practical ideas to help me do music better. I appreciate the effort here, it's much appreciated.

CCM is what you get when you write songs not with the goal of scriptural worship but with the goal of being catchy, chart-topping, and algorithm-driven.

I grew up in the late 80s and 90s, on classical musical and in choir. I love singing Sandy Patty and Sondheim, so as I sat in service today and literally counted us singing the same line over twenty times, not only was I bored to tears but reminds me of more a pagan chant than actually worship. I know that some greatest " worship leaders" were also some the greatest composers in history and your video gives a great explanation.

Excellent video! Thank you for covering this topic in such great detail. For the past 6 months, I’ve been attending a church which uses contemporary worship music and I feel like a spectator for the first half an hour of the service. Even when some of the songs do start becoming a little more familiar to me, I won’t hear them again until another few weeks and they are still too difficult for me to sing due to the rhythms & range. I don’t know what to do with myself during the worship and I feel a bit useless since I’m not able to praise God in the way that I should be able to. It’s actually made me feel quite sad and anxious at times. I’m conscious of the fact that I’m not participating and feel guilty for it even though it isn’t my fault. Last Sunday, I went to a church that sings traditional hymns and the difference was like night and day. I didn’t know most of the songs, but I was able to join in and felt myself naturally becoming in-tune with the melodies since they were predictable and consistent. For the first time, I felt I was truly worshipping God and was happy to do this amongst other believers. I felt like I was part of the congregation rather than an outsider. My mind was more focused too, since I wasn’t stood for half an hour wondering what to do with myself whilst everyone else was singing.

Thank you for this. You made excellent points. I would add a few, more things: 1/ traditional hymns came from a place of personal experience with God. Songs like Be Still My Soul or How Great thou Art touch us in a different level, from meditation to joyousness, to uplifting to melancholy to prayerful …. Modern Christian songs all seem to be “Praise God”. Not saying we shouldn’t praise God, but can we have diverse lyrics please? 2/ standing up in church to sing a song, and not finding musical notations to guide you, is disconcerting, and alienating. Us older people would like to sing too. 3/ many of these famous contemporary songs utilize chanting - which can become a mindless exercise, instead of focusing the mind. Point in case is These are the days of Elijah. 4/ many of these songs do not have either a rhyming structure in the lyrics or resolution in the melody where it’s expected or both. This makes it harder to learn the song.

Technical problems, yes. Excellent reasoning. Excellent work, sir. Also more things wrong with the people of CCM: Among the best-known names does this before the confirmed play-date. 1st, the hosting church or hosting entity will send a non-refundable check for $2500. After that clears, then contractual negotiations will begin. Among requirements: Guaranteed minimum house sales. Guaranteed minimum merchandise sales. Before the show there will be a very comfortably furnished "green" room. Above and beyond the contractual money, the host will provide a catered buffet to include a minimum of 40% organics. Each musician and singer will have 6 bottles of water, 3 at room temperature, 3 chilled to a certain temperature. A licensed chiropractic is highly recommended to be on-site. CCM has become JUST another industry, similar to ATT or NIKE or building homes or grocery stores. CCM is a never-ending talent show with everyone maneuvering and posturing and writing for the biggest audiences, pay-off and awards. How many original disciples were multi-millionaire stars for Jesus? How many industry awards have been given posthumously to Fanny Crosby or the writer of Amazing Grace? You cannot find the old hymns from the old hymnbooks on any "christian" radio station these days. Why not? Bcz there is no money in that. The "christian" community in America loves the world and loves the things of the world. The American "christian' community doesn't even want the Rapture. I grieve for the America that no longer exists. I may have presented this a bit harshly, but what will be put through on Judgment Day? Judgment Day does not bode well for you or me. Nowhere in the Bible have I found any suggestion that "christians" skip-out on Judgment Day. Time to humble ourselves (including me) more and more before the Lord.

I have been troubled by the incessant, albeit seemingly benign push towards rockin, trendy, edgy, four-chord, tear jerking "worship" music in church. Unless you attend Hillsong church, typically, only a handful of people try to get into it, while most stand there alienated with bovine stares, not really able to participate, as the music is simply not structured (let's be honest) for optimal congregational singing. Many churches have basically just bought into this movement, perhaps due to peer pressure, and the mantra of success, with not much clear thinking, because, well.... Newsboys rock, and....... that really big successful church near you - with caramel lattes. Ironically, as a hip drummer and drum&bass enthusiast, I am mustering the courage to come out of the closet and lead worship more using Psalms, hymns, and responsive readings. I think that the church has spent 3-4 decades focusing on relevance instead of God, and has just wasted so much time, while alienating a large chunk of it's adherents. So , thank you for that informative, intellectually robust, truthful but not mean, critique of modern "worship". As the Bible says, "test all things".

A sense of relief after watching this video I thought I am being overly sensitive. Subscribed to your channel. Very thoughtful and educational. Thank you! ❤❤❤

This identified many of the technical details of the "contemporary" "Christian" music I never understood. Hearing and seeing your production in this video helps me explain the problems to people I know. The music of the church should not be shallow, cheap, or unchallenging. Now I know why my categories of shallow, cheap, and unchallenging are insufficient. Thank you for going to this depth, organizing it so clearly, and helping people like me understand intellectually why we are so put off by the new church music. You have used your God-given talents and knowledge to serve the Lord well, brother!

You answered so many questions for me with this video. I grew up on hymns and was in a Southern Gospel trio for 20 yrs. When the new music came along I always wondered why it was hard to find a harmony part to sing and why you had to listen to a song 10 times to pick up the melody. Before I make the next statement, keep in mind I am 59: We have diluted the gospel in song and therefore diluted our worship by leaving the hymns and traditional Christian music behind.

Excellent, John!! And I love the comments from others since they confirm that I'm not the only one who thinks this. One thing I'll add... contemporary church music is the primary reason I don't invite non-Christian friends to Sunday services. Their eyes would roll and they would check out before the sermon begins, perhaps distracting them, making them less open to hearing God's word, and less willing to return to hear more and connect with Christians.

I thought I was the only one exhausted by contemporary worship. It's so vapid. I miss growing up and having congregational worship. One of the differences - in some songs we used to sing verses just for men, verses just for women, and choruses all together. Was the best. Now I am encouraged to stand in the spot I am in and have "my own moment with God" while everyone starts individually singing random melodies in a lyric less transition. We might as well all go home and do that!

Excellent Video and Lesson! There really is a lot to consider here. As a lifetime pianist and organist in church, my personal belief of what we are seeing now is a result of few things. First, people who are up on the platform do not deserve to be up there. I find this especially with guitarists, as so many can't read music, and know just a few chords. Second, the "dumbing down" of the lyrics, by just repeating the same thing over and over and over again. Third, because of the lack of educated musical knowledge, many "songwriters" just don't have the skill to produce excellent content at the highest level. Remember, it's not about YOU! God expects "EXCELLENCE" and today, most of the stuff I hear is mediocrity at best!

This is such an excellent analysis! And it resonates so much with me! I’ve struggled to find worship music that is truly inspiring, and as a musician this analysis makes so much sense to me.

Thank you for this video. I personally enjoy singing and worship at church, but whenever it comes to these types of music I always feel like something is missing- I rarely ever listen to Christian music on its own, whether that be on the radio or in Spotify, but I never understood exactly why. Before watching this I recognized a few of the points somewhat on my own like the lack of unity in the lyrics or that the music sounded plain in some way, but since I’m not as well educated in Music I didn’t understand it very well. So yes, this was a fantastic video essay, and I’m looking forward to whatever you have next.

Thank you so much for your hard work in making this video. I really appreciate it. I've just begun leading worship at my church and the pastors have asked me to lead a small "creative team". Leading and being in front of people makes me nervous, but I knew if I didn't just do it, all the older folks in our church wouldn't get to sing any hymns! I've been reading scripture between songs as well because God's Word is more powerful than anything we could ever say. Especially in a biblically illiterate culture. I really dislike a lot of contemporary worship as it feels very lazy musically and very me-centered. All the Hillsong music sounds alike to me. Currently, my favorite band is Celtic Worship. 🙂 Thank you for giving me a lot to think about as far as how to move forward. Keep making videos!

I found a church home 4 years ago, and I love it there, but I’ve always had a hard time with the music. I grew up in a cathedral and my music there would leave me with connection to God and sense of grandeur and awe, sometimes overwhelming sadness or excitement etc. The modern worship songs here always make me feel… cringey and disingenuous. For four years I’ve been trying to make myself connect to this music and I just can’t, and I feel like I can’t saying anything because it will come of as petty, not caring about the “message” enough, or trying to put down the people who seem to like it. It’s nice to know that there are some musical reasons why this just doesn’t land for me. The pastor and worship team have tried to get me to join the music because I sing in a chorus outside of church, and I keep skirting because I don’t know a gentile way to say “yes I do like to sing, but I hate all your music and it makes me feel like a phony when I try to take it seriously to the point where my stomach flips” 😅 anyone have any advice?

So true. If i hear another song in 6/8, 70-80bpm, in Ionian/Major key, my head gonna explode

YES AND AMEN. I covered much of this in a class at our church recently. We've been moving back from garage band contemporary to classic, congregational hymnody. SO good to hear this from another voice!

Brother , thank you for this comprehensive input on what problems plague the contemporary state of Christian music. I would now like to offer my input on this as a Christian musician. For the most part, I found myself in very strong agreement with what you said, and I commend you for your wisdom and insight. However, I believe that some additions and corrections should be made, and I will try to explain them in a concise manner, following the chronological order set by the video. I hope you will accept this as constructive criticism. -- On point #2. You are absolutely right that tempo ought to be informed by the hymn text, but that is not its only extent of it; text should also inform other aspects of music such as volume, registration, orchestration, and harmonisation. I am very sad to see that many Christian musicians nowadays (both classical and CCM) fail to adhere to this standard. -- On point #4. "The great hymns of the faith are both wildly interesting and singable", amen! Two of the most telling case studies are, I think, "Hills of the North" and "My song is Love Unknown". -- "Minor keys are completely absent from CCM", it is true. I think it's because of the overall thrust to make everything as steamrolled and inoffensive as possible, but also because of the ever-undying falsehood that "major is happy, minor is sad", which is a whole topic of discussion of its own. (Seriously, though, in what way is "Abide with me" (E flat major) a happy hymn? In what sense is "At the name of Jesus" (E minor) a sad hymn?) Believe it or not, even traditional church music suffers from the effects of this mentality -- among others, in the form of the unspoken assumption that all minor-key hymns must end on a Tierce de Picardie. Needless to say, I refuse to abide by that rule. -- "Church music is congregational music". Here lies my first major point of disagreement. Though it be self-explanatory that congregational hymnody gets the lion's share of the music in a church service, such a blanket equation unfairly chucks into the dustbin a whole treasure trove of music, assembled over the course of many centuries, which can and ought to edify all believers, and does not constitute mere concert music (I am primarily thinking of choral compositions and plainchant). -- On harmony. First off, removing the tierce from a chord (or, as we say, "open fifths") does not necessarily make it more fuzzy or "floating". Open fifths are a very Mediaeval-typical way to conclude a piece of music, and I usually employ them to convey some sort of strictness or seriosity. Also, by way of example, the first 14 bars of Anton Bruckner's monumental "Te Deum" are written exclusively in open fifths, yet it is one of the most regal and decisive passages ever composed. Suspensions are a whole different issue. -- On point #5, Introductions, I disagree with your assessment for at least one reason. One of the most effective ways to introduce a really grand hymn is with a fanfare, and in fanfares the main theme of the following hymn is either hidden (D. Willcocks, "Hark the herald angels") or absent (G. Jacobs, "God save the King"). However, I believe that there is a problem, and that is overuse; when such an overwhelming majority of hymns/songs start with unrelated introductions, something is not quite right. -- On point #6, Range. No, no, no, no, no, no, the dynamic range is not the same as the vocal range! The dynamic range is, as the name, suggests the range of dynamics in a hymn, which is highly dependent on the musicians involved (and unfortunately, some are not too creative in this regard; they stick on a grand forte from beginning to end and never attempt anything creative). Also, with regard to the vocal range itself, one octave (which, as it seems to be suggested in the video, is from C to C') is far too conservative. In writing and leading hymns, as an organist, what I consider a rational range for most people is C3 to D4 for women, plus a tolerance for occasional runs up to E4 and down to Bb2, and the same one octave lower for men. Most of the classic hymn tunes which I can quote off the top of my head (Love Unknown, Old 100th, Kings Weston, Aberystwyth, Adeste Fideles, Easter Hymn) easily fail your C-to-C' criterion, yet they are all but singable by most people. -- On point #8, I have often said, verbatim: "Most hymns and songs written nowadays constitute not self-consistent unities with a developing but constant theme, but rather hodgepodges of biblical or biblicoid statements." Thanks for letting me know I'm not the only one. And let's not even discuss how simplistic the vocabulary and linguistic arsenal of CCM is. -- On point #9, on too many new songs. Though I absolutely agree with you, I can guarantee from personal experience that discretion is sorely needed in order for the exact opposite situation to be avoided. At a church where I served as organist in the past, there was a lovely old hymnal with more than 400 beautiful traditional hymns; it is doubtful whether we ever sang more than 50 of them. Every time I tried to introduce an item from the hymnal which was not well-known, I was dismissed out of hand with the excuse that "the congregation doesn't know it". I will dedicate a separate comment to the additions which I would like to make to your list. Thanks for your time.

I have read a lot of the comments below and as a 75 year old life long Christian I ask myself why church attendance is falling. The church must move forward in grace. There is beautiful church music, both traditional and modern. There is room for both for growth. I wonder if members of congregations in the 17th and 18th century complained about the 'modern' music written in their time, which are still being played today. Any music that brings people to God has a place in today's church.

A friend from long ago shared this clip with me. It struck me as a thoughtful, well-organized introduction to the topic. As a worship leader, I find myself in conversation with church members all the time about what they prefer and don't prefer regarding worship music. And often, their tastes are shaped by what they hear in contemporary culture. That''s always been the case, of course. Your video provides a framework for discussion. I'm very grateful for your work, and I wish you felt that you had more time to elaborate on your arguments. You seemed rushed and I wanted you to feel like you could elaborate more fully. Wouldn't it be interesting to hear you in discussion with someone who advocates for contemporary Christian worship music? What an enlightening dialogue that would be. Bless you, sir.

Thank you for the video, it really consolidated many of the misgivings I have/had with CCM sung in our local church. I am absolutely not against CCM, happy to work with both traditional and contemporary music, but one thing that really bugged me was this habit of just "aping" how the song was performed, regardless that the videoclip was for "performance, sales and promotion" as well. Extraneously long intros with lots of solo instrument show-off lines is one thing, but the thing I really had to fight against was the inclusion of "vocables" (lalala, oh, oh, oh etc). So many times, I had to remind the WL and team that singing, "Oh" including one egregious example where each time they went to the start (da capo), there were 14 "oh's"! Had to remind them seriously that in the same number of syllables, we could have sung, "Oh for a thousand tongues to sing, my great redeemer's praise", which ironically is the first hymn in the hymnal! So much doctrinal truth that could be unpacked in that first line, but instead, we'd wasted congregational time (x100s of attendees) singing these "on trend" syllables instead. Honestly, I had to work so hard to remind them that if they sang any more oh's, we'd have a Beyonce or Kanye West concert; embarassed laughs and sheepish looks then, but I hope I had made my point then and it stuck. My concerns that words used for praise of the Almighty needed to be special, reserved and set apart. Each of the lines of traditional hymns when Googled (not a rigourous method of course) instantly links to its text in part of the hymn. But all these vocables, ah, oh, yeah are just part of really poor songwriting and simply copying the current trend that to write a hit song, you need to include them quite mindlessly.

I'm glad you mentioned harmony as well as melody. The old songs in the hymnals had the musical notes printed which makes it easier to follow whereas the new songs have only the lyrics printed on the screen.

Thank you for this excellent in depth explanation! I have known there was something missing in modern songs and preferred what you described as more complex yet simple style. I didn't know why till I came across your video. You have done the Lord and the world a tremendous service thru this video. I am forever indebted to you for shining the light on this topic. I am sharing your video with others.

Recently joined the church choir at age 66 after decades away! Learning all the new songs and tempos and phrasing is difficult for me and the choir, much less for the congregation, but somehow it all comes together into beautiful worship!

I noticed a few years ago that today's worship songs replace the original Trinity with the new, namely "Me, Myself and I".

While I agree with most of your observations about contemporary worship music, I find your conclusions to be rather pretentious. I’m a classically trained musician. I grew up in a “traditional” church learning the classic hymns. I was a high school choir director for 33 years and we did all the classic repertoire. I had the privilege as serving as guest conductor for several choral music festivals. Forty-one years ago, when I first started attending contemporary worship services I will admit to being “offended” by the worship songs due to their repetitive and rather simplistic nature. I had to learn how to worship in those settings. And I’m glad I learned to appreciate that form of worship. It’s different. It’s not better or worse, just different. I also get bored with the I-V-vi-IV chord progression. And while you’re correct that it doesn’t take as much skill to perform those songs, isn’t that the point. How blessed I am to see people using the level of skill that they have to worship the Lord. I’ve learned that the simplicity of the music makes it easier to focus on worshiping the Lord rather than the music. As for the complexity of the rhythms, I confess to being amazed at some of the songs sung by congregations. And yes, trying to notate them accurately (let alone read them) is a nightmare. But the congregations know these songs precisely because they hear them on the radio. These rhythms are taught in the manner of a folk music tradition. They are heard and repeated rather than read. You cry out for simpler rhythms like the traditional hymns. I understand completely where you’re coming from. But you have to understand that to the modern, untrained ear in our culture, those rhythms are deadly boring. The rhythms of most of these songs are improvised around the text. It many ways it’s like performing a recitative, which also explains the lack of melodic movement. I’ve been most blessed when I’m part of congregations with blended worship or even multiple services in different styles. One of my favorite congregations has 3 services on Sunday morning: 1. Simple guitar with quieter worship songs, 2. Contemporary worship with praise band and 3. Traditional worship with full choir in robes and a pipe organ. I’d worship there 3 times every week if I could. The culture around has changed. Rather than complain about what’s wrong with it, let’s learn to embrace it, elevate it and most of all help people enter into true worship.

My guy, excellent video! I rejoice to see it! I want to see more worship songs like what you're describing! One of my favorite points of yours was that a song has internal integrity, like you described; no circus tent hospitals. I lead worship at my church, and this gives me a lot to consider when picking and playing songs. I want to correct you on just one point, because it's important to me. Don't mix individualism up with subjectivism. You made a quick comment about that being a major problem in modern worship music. I actually think MORE individualism, not less, is what worship music needs. Subjectivism denies objective reality in favor of personal experience. Individualism accepts objective reality AND personal experience, but doesn't allow a person's experience redefine reality as with subjectivism. Individualism just acknowledges human beings ontologically as individuals, accepting that each person has their own rational faculties to assess values. I don't share a mind or a body with you, though we are Christ's body and are being renewed individually after the mind of Christ. I have my own mind and body, and I live according to what I rationally assess to be my values. We want that; we want people to value God individually for themselves using their minds, to worship him in Spirit and truth. The great hymns weren't written subjectively, but they were written individualistically. Consider this line: Great is thy faithfulness, o God my Father There is no shadow of turning with thee Thou changest not, thy compassions they fail not Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me The writer assesses God's objective nature, then acknowledges how God has been objectively faithful to HIM, and returns gratitude to God for it. He is thinking of God in relation to himself as an individual. You'll find that pattern across many songs, hymns, and psalms. Many people criticize modern worship songs for using I and me a lot, but older hymns do it to. The problem isn't the use of I and me, but that the focus is on subjective feeling over objective reality. God is objectively good for every individual, whether that person subjectively feels it or not. We want people to value him, both objectively and for themselves. TL;DR We want people to use their minds to rationally assess God as their highest personal value, because he is objectively the most precious thing that is, but must be embraced by every individual heart and soul. That is not subjectivism; it is individualism, and more, not less of it, needs to be applied in worship music.

Great and objective analysis of contemporary worship. You presented your arguments clearly without necessarily being “personal” against those who cater and practice contemporary worship. Other YT channels on contemporary worship issues are simply so negative criticising and worse, being judgmental to the point that there seems no good or something valuable when someone or a church is engaged in this type of worship. My concern is they are just being utterly unreasonable in their crituque. Good day Sir! More power to your YT channel.

Our music leader needs to hear this, he cannot play anything but contemporary. I am going to share you and the other two guys you mentioned with him. I pray he will listen and apply.

It was so interesting to hear your thoughts on this. I'm not a music student but I really enjoyed listening and learning. The video was well thought out and had logical opinions. God bless you brother. I learnt so much.. And this has me thinking about modern music in a whole new way. I truly think we have taken lightly the faults found in modern worship music. What a powerful message.

This was a good video essay. I wished you had made a video essay on creating music that is transformational and meditative on the truth of who Yahweh is like the beautiful construction of scripture

I was curious if anyone felt how I felt and you explained better then I could. Very high quality and interesting and you pointed out things I missed. Great job.

Thats Why i listen Rich Mullins, Keith Green and old songs, even orthodox chants

You make so many good points in this video, both musical, lyrical, and theological. As a frequent worship team member, and occasional worship leader, I bring up these kinds of points often and am usually met with glassy stares.

Thank you for this cogent discussion of a serious problem. You were able to speak to it factually, without a judgmental or dismissive tone. I admire you for that. One thing I might add/clarify is that in traditional hymnody, the metric of the lyric matched the accentual pattern of the melody. This was the key in making the phrasing easy to follow and learn; indeed, when the two match, it is easier for the congregation to sing the phrasing right than it is to sing it wrong. This concept has been lost in much or most contemporary worship music, greatly increasing its difficulty. Ironically, the very phrasing that makes performance music interesting makes it all but nonfunctional as congregational worship. Again, thank you for this clear and helpful presentation. You were able to make challenging concepts understandable.

I grew up in a church that used the old hymnal and basically a piano. I love the "old" Gospel songs. The new stuff is one of the reasons I cannot seem to find a church. It's all a bunch of canned music played too loud, the "praise team" is putting on show in most churches I have been to. I don't want to be entertained, I want to sing the songs I already know and actually mean something to me other than "Jesus is my boyfriend".

One conviction I hear from the holy spirit at modern churches is "I don't know these songs..." I don't mind modern songs but they are too similar to secular music.

Excellent video. Thank you for putting the work in on this. You've stated very well, what I've had a hard time describing at times because I am not a musician.

Thank you for confirming my thoughts that the new songs (as they are currently written and performed) are not meant for congregational singing. Also, when I’m singing in church I feel like the congregations voices are more often than not, completely drowned out by the loudness of the instruments. I would have to sing very very loudly almost to the point of yelling to feel like I’m even contributing at all. Isn’t that an issue in of itself?

Thank you for putting my frustrations with modern Christian worship into words! I've always felt what you're saying, just never knew how to explain it to anyone

The problem is that types of music can cause emotion, but that emotion is not necessarily spiritual. A person living in sin can come out of a ccm concert feeling great, emotionally. Ideally they should come out of worship under conviction.

Thank you, Praise God, you ve helped many of us out there, certainly well phrased and I do hope Christian song leaders any decision makers take note of your content, the structure and explanation of it all, music and worship is integral and yet the latest form of corporate worship are missing in many parts of it, what is was first originated, the power of music is to unite the congregation and not the other way. In a complex world of misinformation , videos like this certainly helps the give the correct concise and precise explanations.

Brother, you absolutely nailed this video. Kudos to you on this. Thank you for making this, and saying all you say with a kind attitude (which you do much better than I do). Blessings for this content!

Thank you for this excellent, in-depth analysis! This is way more approachable than videos that condemn modern worship music for more superficial reasons.

Awesome vid, More music related videos please 😊

Former worship pastor here of 10 years. I agree with practically everything you said, and the subject of this video is the main reason I gave up the position. It should be noted that, in my opinion, a lot of the downhill slide occurred in the last 15-20 years and (again in my opinion) was largely driven by the replacement of keyboard(s) with guitar as the lead instrument. Nothing wrong with the guitar (in addition to piano, I play it myself), but it is vastly less suited to complex chords unless you're well above the level of the average church musician. One other comment, which I feel nicely sums up one of your points here - when I hear a lot of contemporary Christian songs these days, my immediate reaction is "Find some notes!" And I get really tired of hearing the "tinka tinka tinka" of the same two piano keys repeated incessantly, as well!

Maybe the folks who thought pianos and organs thought this too once long ago. But praise bands feel like, well bands. Like i'm watching a performance instead of worshiping. I dont know maybe thats just me

I watched this to the end & totally agree with your objective analysis. There is a chasm in what should be entertainment & what should be worship. This is not meant as a generic dig, but I find most Hillsong hymns to be too similar is structure & as a result I get very bored with them. Starts of acoustically and slowly builds to a noisy, meaningless crescendo. Some would argue this is what worship is about. But noise is noise and sadly this is what has happened to many contemporary Christian songs. You can find this on any contemporary Christian radio station. I'm not getting old here...I just find one song after another being so similar that it fails at what it was intended to do. I love old & new alike. I used to go to Victory Church and eventually found the services lacked depth in reaching people and linking them to God. Wailing songs are not going to do it. God must sit up there & think...here we go again... Thank you for your criticisms & insights....yes we need better, more engaging hymns that both worship God, thank Him and uplift the congregation. And melody is soo important, with it we can often remember & recite the lyrics.

Just a clarification... Dynamic range actually refers to variability in volume/intensity, not the range of pitches/notes. I'm glad my analysis was helpful otherwise. :)

This was an amazing video essay. Easy to follow even as an amateur musician. Thank you.

"Be still and know that I am God."

really like what you have said, and I think i mostly agree with your opinion. Well done!

Something not mentioned besides shallow content is the constant repetition often 12 times..seems to be a pattern in contemporary music on the radio and in worship times.

Amen. Thanks for reaffirming what I've felt for some time. I don't feel so weird now.

Awesome knowledge and wisdom!

This video was very informative and explains why some people say that contemporary Christian worship music sounds the same. And it really does.

So, so true! All my pet peeves about church music! Scripture says, "Teaching one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs." Where is the teaching when we sing the same 5 words over and over again, ad nauseum? I thought the problem was in me because I have a degree in classical music. I am bored with the melodies (or lack of), the impossible ranges and rhythms for congregational singing, the lack of harmonies (I like to sing alto) and the trite message.(It's all about my feelings.). Even inaccurate lyrics or sometimes downright blasphemous lyrics that make me cringe. Most churches discarded their hymnbooks and traded them for "junk food." There are some very good contemporary Christian songs, but they are few and rarely sung.

It's a shame. At my church all I want to do is open the hymnal. The answer is right in front of us.

I feel grieved by most music and movies. It takes crushing to have an anointing. I won’t go to a place that forces MY worship. Touch not the Lord’s anointed!

Very informative, thank you!

Also keep in mind please, not all contemporary Christian music is meant to be used in church. I can praise and worship God at home very easily.

sir you made great sense in your explanation in the video. This is something I have said to friends in the past . Too many of the songs today do not take you to the throne of God in worship and they are not congregational. in Psalm 133 It speaks of the unity "and where there is strength " and it's there God commands the blessing " that is in the congregation singing.

Weren't The Melodies of a lot of old hymns taken from popular folk tunes work songs and bar songs?

This is why christians need to embrace Metal.

I have a B.A. and M.A. in music composition (my neo-romantic piano concerto is on youtube). This man knows what he's talking about, and his conclusions are sound. The minimalist approach he observes is often found in new classical music, as well. This man has done his homework and persevered through a difficult subject. So thankful for this video.

Thank you very much for this. I have had my own thoughts on worship music and you have helped me to extend my rationalisation and vocabulary on the subject. I have seen churches mindlessly embrace the style which to them is ‘cool’ but it really does not do them any favours. There is also a worrying attraction for copying the secular agenda. One of my organist friends troubled over worship music sounding more like pop culture than worship. I fully understood all that you have said and it comes as a relief to know that I am not totally alone. My background is holding a music diploma, knowing the eight grades of theory inside out, having written music and studied music at degree level… though this was not my main discipline. I lead music at my church and worship music in school assemblies. I like to cover a wide breadth of style but mainly centre on the traditional. Why? Because it has the most to offer in educating people and has a depth of spirituality which is often missing elsewhere. In the long term, people usually prefer it. This is particularly evident in school where the children have a wide bank of styles from which to draw from. The traditional leaves a deeper impression upon them. It is good to look so objectively at this so I can articulate the reasons for what is happening.

Thank you for answering this burning question for me. I was wondering what was wrong with me!! Now, what is the solution?? I need to minister to teens and get them engaged in worship and was resisting the idea Hillsong (mostly because I can't stand it). SOMEBODY HELP PLEASE!!

Sir, thank you for this. It is a cogent, well thought out and very well presented statement of the reality of the “Folk music” ideology. It started with the Roman church and it has been “aped” by practically every brand of Christianity out there. I won’t preach to the preacher - I will say that I started in a Catholic Church in 1963 as a Lutheran and slowly infiltrated the entire worship scene and modeled them after the services held in my home (Lutheran) church. Nothing - as we both know - is better than singing the hymns of praise to God in the worship service - the liturgy in my adopted church was sung as well by my getting a (very rare) 4 part Catholic hymnal and my congregation was always heralded by all - visiting clergy, hierarchy and worshipers as the best they had experienced. The reason was that I got up in front of all the people at all the Masses and taught them solid traditional hymns and sang them with them with a microphone from the console and the music was incredible. And we had a Folk group and the only time those congregants really sang was when I was playing and using the traditional hymns. Within recent history - I have been watching RU-vid videos of Catholic Funerals and am horrified that no matter where of what - they were all piano music and piano accompanied pretty much solos. That is against the documents of Vatican 2 which states that the organ is the traditional instrument of the church and definitely goes against the fact that there MUST be congregational singing NOT solos. No one seems to care and the Roman Church is in more turmoil now with more than just the music - God bless you for your words and I will use your video as often as possible to try to show that there is more than just me out there fighting!

This video hit all of the points very well. Contemporary worship teams seem more interested in being superstars on stage rather than leading a truly inspired congregation. Just two examples of shallow and even unscriptural lyrics; "Reckless Love". Really? God has ordained all things according to his sovereign will. There is nothing reckless about God. Another one; "He Loves Us". I don't even know where to start on that one. The lyrics sound like a drug fueled hallucination! We need to stop the Sunday morning rock concerts and humble ourselves to give God worthy praise.

You put into words what I’ve been feeling for years

What do you think of gospel? I think gospel lyrics have simplified and tempo have slowed down over the years, but I think gospel is still more complex than CCM in harmony, and faster.

Wonderful video. Thought provoking. You are a talented man. God bless.

The musical lingo and understanding is way over my head. So far I haven't had much exposure to contemporary worship music (I've met mostly with others who sing mostly "old" hymns) but I get that talking more with each other about how we feel and what we think about our worship music 'in the light of the LORD' could be helpful. A focus on praiseworthy aspects of worship music could be helpful.

Modern contemporary music has become all about the top 40. Like pop music, now one remembers the songs from 20, 20, 40, 80, and even over 100 years ago. This is because the musicians write and sing songs for the love money, not for the love of God. What ever is being payed on the radio is what is being played in the church.

It's depending on who is the songwriter and his musical concept and who is his audience, one to consider is 5:39 the culture.

You hit the bullseye. I cannot stand the new songs because they are too difficult to sing. Also I love stirring music such as “my eyes have seen the coming of the Lord”.

Thank you for this! I no longer can listen to CCM as it all sounds the same-same range, no musicality-does no one study music theory anymore? In addition, I have walked away from leading worship as the younger team members insist on singing the contemporary radio "hits" rather than songs that are singable. I really appreciate your explanation of range. Most of these contemporary worship songs are lead by men with high tenor voices, making it nearly impossible for women to sing along with them. God bless you!

Wow! I really enjoyed your explanation (some music theory beyond my understanding but that's ok). You really did some research! Thank you. I was raised on good old Lutheran hymns. I sure do miss them, but that's ok. I have my Lutheran hymn book and play them for myself on my piano.

Wow, thank you John. This was really refreshing and enlightening.

I have never been much of a fan of Contemporary Christian Music. The poor melodies are one thing but the thing that bothers me even more is the constant and never ending repetitions. The songs just have a few repeated statements and you can never know when the song is going to end. It just keeps on going and going and going.

Awesome video!

This is fabulous! Thank you so much! I have been subjected to so-called worship music for five years, and am around people who love it, and I’ve been analyzing my objections to it. You hit on every one of them, except for the money issue: these artists seem to care most about getting their songs copyrighted so they can earn money from them. They even take traditional hymns, add a little twist, and copyright them. Now I have something concrete and well stated to ask people to listen to, so they understand why I object so strongly to this music. God bless you!

whew... this is meaty... i like it!!!

Time stamp 4:32. Exactly! You hit the nail on the head.

Excellent insight, we shouldn't assume that our musical tastes are automatically transferable to the congregational setting. What we like when we're singing and listening in the shower, working in the kitchen or at the gymn is exactly that ; its what we like. When we assemble for corporate worship the focus is no longer our pleasure being the only consideration. We are also to think about what gives God and others pleasure.

Thank you for this video😊. What if God gives us the answer to these problems in the New Testament? What if when He tells us to "sing and make melody in your heart" and that they be "psalms, hymns and spiritual songs" (Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16)...what if He is trying to give us a pattern for success in worship?? What if true worshippers stick to these simple instructions and in doing so, avoid most of the pitfalls you list? Acapella corporate singing of an even mixture of psalms, hymns and spiritual songs seems to be the simple answer to the problem.❤️

This is excellent!

Great observations. There's far too much "performance music" being played in church today. But good luck changing this. Its been going on for more than 20 years. (music teams love it!)

Fantastic & brings out all that bothers me in 'Praise Songs' , Thanks for speaking out John . Praise music was new to me when I wandered in from my wilderness , Praise tunes id NOT help me , nor anyone I could see the faces of standing nearby . The cramping to squeeze words into a refrain was crazy to me , & could see many older folks standing ; mouths agape - then looking back n forth " what do we do here ?! " looks being exchanged , I felt the as I do still , that 'Praise' should sound like PRAISE , with Melody , & Harmony , The words should come easily & without the feeling that here's a group of amateur singers who 'MUST' suddenly sing as professionals - ain't gonna happen - Sorry ! Anyways , I for one sincerely Hope this important critique reaches the amateur audience & hence also participants in our devotions of Praise to Our God , Jesus Christ . We need the Relief !

As the worship director at my church, I have to say that many of these are non-issues. You can play the songs at whatever tempo suits you. If anything, I tend to play them a bit faster than I really should. I can sing fairly fast rhythms but not all our singers can :) You can also (and we do) smooth out a lot of the difficult rhythms (you can't do this with all of them, certainly). Do whatever introduction you like. You don't have to do the "official" one. We'll have to disagree on the King of Kings one, I think it's pretty cool (and it's used in the music before each verse, so it does serve as a consistent marker.) The vocal range and content are indeed often issues, but that only means you need to be thoughtful in choosing songs. (The vocal range and key selection are also an issue for a lot of the old hymns, incidentally. One of my ongoing tasks is reintroducing hymns into our song list, and you'd be surprised how many have difficult vocal ranges.) The one about new music is interesting. At our church we have both people who love the old hymns, and people who find it difficult to engage with anything that sounds dated (even 10 years old). Part of my job is to try to balance out what we do musically so that both these groups feel welcome and included. So I do need to keep updating our song list with fresh material - and fortunately there is some really good stuff being produced. (Yes, it does displace old songs to an extent, but I generally find that there are songs on our roster that fall out of use, and those are the ones I cut.) In the end, whether you're looking at contemporary or older music, if you select your songs carefully and sing them to the glory of God then you're doing it the right way.

Its a pitywe don't analyze doctrine the way we do music,obsessing over every note.

Hey John .... very much appreciate all you stated in this video. And reading through the comments below is heart-warming as well. I was so very blessed to have experienced life in the early 70s, when a bible believing church actually sang hymns like Washed In The Blood, and Look and Live. My brother Ross was in a very bad way back then, trying all kinds of strange ways to get high. I took him under my wing, so to speak, and along with other things, brought him to church. It was in the service where the hymn Look and Live was being sung that Ross went forward to give his heart to Christ. Imagine if the church had been singing the CCM song Fierce instead of Look and Live ... It was in the early 80s that Christian music was bought up by those who saw a gold mine in "stupid Christians." There was an article in, I believe, Christianity Today, where this edict was given by the new owners: "Singer songwriters ... we want no more I got saved you get saved too songs. Get commercial ... or get lost." They then fired Randy Stonehill for being too old, and Bob Bennet for being too overweight. After all, sex sells, right? So only the young, slender, and sexy ones will be promoted. I have tried to convey these things to my pastor .... and it seems at least some of it has gotten through. The praise band includes at least a few of the old hymns in every service. Since I live too far from church I am usually there on Zoom. When the praise band does another insipid CCM song, I can just press MUTE ...

This was brilliant. God bless you sir.

When the real church purposely steers away from the songs directed towards God alone and replace them with songs about me, I ,we , my we are in serious trouble. God and Him alone gets the worship and praise not man.

Now, some additional problems with CCM as it stands in the year of our Lord 2022, from my own perspective and experience. Number 11: Emotional poverty No matter how you slice it, it is true that the overwhelming majority of CCM output nowadays can only convey one specific emotion, which is a sort of ambient, nirvana-like tranquillity. For all the charges of being "boring", even a surface-level survey of traditional church music will demonstrate its incredible capability of expressing the entire range of human emotion and thought, from despair through grief through perseverance through peace to utter jubilation. I once listened to a CCM song based upon Psalm 94, which is one of the most chilling and "gothic" texts in the entire Psalter. To my extreme chagrin, the song in question was written in a sappy, saccharine D major throughout, and could easily have been mistaken for a soundtrack from a Hollywood romcom if it weren't for the lyrics. Calling to mind also the composer J. Reubke, who composed a positively terrifying sonata for the organ based on the same text, I immediately considered this song an insult to his memory. Number 12: No roots Unlike any other genre of music in the history of the church, CCM nowadays cannot claim to constitute a part of any pre-existing movement or tradition. In effect, it mostly constitutes a sanitised alternative to secular pop-rock, topped with jesusy lyrics; and I think most of the problems stem therefrom. Heck, CCM seemingly doesn't even want to connect with its own past! Does anybody remember, e.g., Rich Mullins? Is anybody inspired by him anymore? In my home country of Greece, there was developed in the 1970-2000 time period a peculiar and absolutely BEAUTIFUL kind of CCM which was based upon a set of very respectable musical idioms endemic to Greece, and not relying on the usual array of electronics and post-processing -- in fact, most songs of that "school" can very well be led by the organ even. Nowadays, the new generations of Evangelicals hardly pay attention to it -- their attention is turned instead towards the Hillsong/Bethel paradigm, mostly in the form of imports from America. Number 13: Osmosis It is a proven fact that, once CCM establishes itself in an ecclesial body, it will almost inevitably affect the way traditional hymnody is done there, usually for the worst. Another church which I have served in the past boasts both a traditional and a contemporary ensemble. But alas! More than 90% of the traditional hymns which are sung during their services feature a heavily technicolour, Disney-esque harmonisation, which robs them of their due gravitas. Also, needless to say, "darker" hymns, as well as hymns in minor keys, have also almost completely disappeared. Number 14: Action songs Yeah...the less said about those, the better. It certainly doesn't help that they are increasingly becoming parts of the main worship service in many churches, even when genres such as the antiphon, anthem, and voluntary are becoming endangered species. Number 15: False diversity Just...why? Why does CCM restrict itself solely to electric guitars, bass, piano, and amplified drums? Whatever happened to acoustic instruments? Is the organ not good enough for you? What about the brass band? What about folk instruments? For that matter, why does all CCM need to follow the Hillsong/Bethel template? Why not leverage other musical idioms which are out there? It's just a carbon-copying industry. Number 16: Demand for supremacy As if everything else which is wrong with CCM weren't enough, the situation is exacerbated by the fact that CCM typically seeks to establish itself at the expense of all other genres of church music, including not only classical, but even others such as spirituals and Gospel. This, of course, is largely a result of rhetoric and/or social jockeying, so it does not necessarily have to do with the genre itself, but it is a huge problem nonetheless, because it eats away at tradition like woodworm. A praise band member at one of my old churches, and great lover of Hillsong, once said that she considers the music of J. S. Bach "boring and outdated". Another CCM fan, whom I debated on-line, said that it would be best if choirs and organs were completely eradicated. In yet another church where I used to serve, the priest insisted on having a guitarist sing "Kum Ba Yah" during COMMUNION on REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY, and nobody saw an issue with this, because "diversity" or something. Thousands will misquote Ps. 96:1 to argue that we are only (or mainly) supposed to sing contemporary music in church. And of course, scores of thousands still go around claiming that beauty, quality, and tradition do not matter, because "God looks at the heart". In short, the social problems with CCM are every bit as concerning as the matters of content... In short, you have a ghastly mess! In Christ, Pavlos T.