so what actually happened - worship wars early 80's to late 90's or so

So I've been studying praise and worship ( and no they are not the same thing) so quite a while now but still am unclear on just what happened with the worship wars of the early 80's through the late 90's or so. What do you know? What do you remember?

thanks

I don't know that there is a single answer to your question. As far as I know, most churches decided either to stick with the older music ("hymns") or to adopt modern music to some degree. I can offer that the "wars" started long before 1980 (about 200 years before!) and are still going strong. In the early '90's, I wrestled for the inclusion of modern music, and now I'm wrestling for the inclusion of "old hymns". The majority of our present congregation have not grown up with hymns, so they are as foreign to the congregants as Keith Green and Larry Norman were to most church folks in 1990.

I do agree that praise and worship aren't the same thing, and would add that neither has anything to do with music, necessarily.

Hi Dino - thank you for a civil reply. I've spent the better part of an hour thinking about what you wrote and the portion of of your reply quoted in bold really struck a cord with me. People in general want things to be constant / consistent so changing something is usually done in small steps.
In this case I think there was human influence as well as spiritual opposition. True spiritual worship is something our adversary hates and will strongly work against because we can take that presence into the world and effect change both in others and other ways. I have a personal testimony about this. Speaking for myself, when my wife and I left sunday morning service in the early 70s through the mid 80s, we left with a fresh awareness of the manifest presence of the Holy Spirit.

Concerning the old hymns . I suggest finding a copy of the old Broadman Hymnal and just read the lyrics as a personal first person testimony - ebay. I have found quite a bit of strengthing from those words.

While the entire service back in those days, the praise/worship part was kept on a separate cassette tape. It was retained for a certain period of time and then reused to record and store the sermon. Because of this most of those early worship sessions are just gone.

The above link is for a vineyard praise/worship session that survived. Looks like it was a 30 minute cassette was used as it is only 31 1/2 minutes long. It is a live recording - not a studio one. Listening closely I could pick up 4 instruments - piano, guitar, and muted drum.Please give it a listen especially at the 25:35 to 26:15 minute marks. This is where the congregation moves from praise/worship (somewhat combined) to spirit level worship. Hands up and eyes closed so the worshiper could have total privacy. A second break is at 22:45 where it sounds like someone started to give a word from the Lord but it was edited out. It doesn't appear that a wide screen tv was used to give the lyrics as a leader simply spoke the next verse/

You may already know this but I post for those that don't.
The tabernacle of Moses gives a pattern on how to get into the presence of the Father. There's far to much info for me to post here but there is probably a good spot online where it can be read. Well worth a read. Then move to the Tabernacle of David and note the differences. Again well worth a look.

Neither Praise and Worship nor music are the issues. (Some of you already said that.) The issues are much deeper. The turmoil, perhaps first noticed in 80's and 90's, really began in 1966. Then, following a long period moral decline, the nation fully turned it's back on God's law, breaking his covenant. The tide of humanism has been dragging the church along ever since. First in small imperceptible steps, now in leaps, we sold out worship for secular entertainment and self-indulgence. Soft seats and spectacular sound systems appear to satisfy most.

Why, is music the most critical issue in worship? Maybe as long as we entertain, we can then preach any gospel we want. Maybe truth can be hidden behind the our emotional responses. This seems to attract more converts than the truth.

From what I saw and experienced in the early 70's through the mid 80's, the music actually had very, very little to do with true spiritual worship. Praise yes - worship no. Praise is at a different level than worship. Praise comes from the soul and usually is giving thanks to GOD for what HE has given us. Salvation, things, protection..... We do get an emotional boost from praise.
Worship flows through our spirit via The Holy Spirit. Worship flows from the Holy Spirit through us to the Father for who and what HE is. This is seldom if ever seen today. Because we become like that which we worship, when we enter worship, we become more like Christ and closer to the Father.

I agree with you that today the emphasis is on a live band on a stage.. Dimmed lights and fog machines at some. For some this may be called praise but it is a far cry from the early 70's version where only a piano and organ provided music and a single worship leader was on a platform - mostly to ensure proper order than lead worship.

I have spent considerable time searching youtube and other sites and have found a lot of believers seriously unhappy with the level of praise and worship at the church they attend as shown in their comments. There is a growing current looking for a deeper more meaningful level of worship. Perhaps something like the Asbury outpouring only nation wide will come. Even then there will be strong opposition from the adversary and should be expected. Invisible worship leaders are needed. Singers with microphones and the rest of the hype, not so much.

seeker47,

Please listen to the worship recording at post #4. That's how is used to be.