A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship

“Ruth and Lim’s A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship is a landmark volume. With remarkable breadth and analytical depth, this book provides the most comprehensive account to date of the liturgical forms that reshaped the landscape of Christian worship during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. This book will become required reading for courses in liturgy and worship, church history, and church music.”

“What a remarkably rich and thought-provoking account of the people and the convictions that have directly or indirectly shaped the worship practices of millions of Christians in several quite different traditions. Those who remember the people or events described here may well be astonished to see the contours of the larger story in which they played a part. This is a book that will help us slow down and listen attentively, a crucial task for anyone who is called to discern the nature of vital, faithful worship practices in the years to come, including Christians from traditions that seem at first not to be influenced by the worlds described here.”

“The story of Contemporary Praise & Worship is fascinating and complex, and Ruth and Lim follow its twists and turns with historical precision, theological sophistication, and wondrous clarity. This book is a remarkable achievement. It will remain the standard work of reference on evangelical and Pentecostal worship for years to come.”

“I have had the wonderful privilege of personally experiencing and participating in the birth of Contemporary Praise & Worship. My heart wept as I read Ruth and Lim’s masterful and comprehensive capture of our worship ‘heritage.’ But, as precious as our heritage is, this book is much more than a historical narration of praise and worship. The authors identify significant principles and pitfalls of contemporary worship expression. This book overflows with the richness of our intimate relationship with God through times, seasons, and different emphases of an encounter with God. This book needs to be in every church leader’s library and is a must-read for everyone who desires to be grounded in our heritage of praise and worship!”

“If you would like to know more about people in history who, like Mary of Bethany, ‘wasted’ themselves on loving and seeking Jesus (Mark 14:3–9), then I encourage you to read Ruth and Lim’s new book. It is a serious yet practical study that shares about people who sought a deep relationship with God.”

“Lester Ruth and Lim Swee Hong’s A History of Contemporary Praise & Worship is a long overdue and much needed historical documentation of one of the world’s most important Great Awakenings to ever impact the church. While the church was trying to understand all the cultural underpinnings of the Jesus Movement itself, the Holy Spirit was ushering into the body of Christ and into local assemblies around the globe opportunity to create a worship experience that was rich, deep, and extraordinarily personal. The authors explain how the movement transcended denominational preference, practice, and policy. Ruth and Lim demonstrate how God superintended new paradigms and pathways for worship and, along the way, placed gifted people in positions of meaningful communication to proclaim his wonders and purposes. This is an excellent, much needed, dynamic, and insightful resource. It is an honest look at one of the most important and critical times in church history. I enthusiastically endorse its study by any serious student of worship.”

“Modern worship is often maligned and misunderstood. But caricatures and criticisms abound without a proper distinction between the many iterations and impulses that make up the movement. Ruth and Lim have meticulously studied original sources and interviewed primary actors, documenting the complexity and the significance of two main root systems of Contemporary Praise & Worship. From their work detailing the theology, the people, and the practices that belong to each, we gain nothing short of a history of the modern church in North America told through the lens of one of the church’s most critical callings: to worship Jesus. No study or critique of the church and its worship today should begin without this book.”