MUSIC AND WORSHIP, THE EMERGING EXPERIENCES OF BAPTISTS, by David Music
Major Changes in the 1900’s
Many Baptist churches of the early 1900s patterned their worship on the model of the revival meeting. The emphasis was on the conversion of the lost, rather than on Christians having an encounter with God. Sermons were evangelistic and the invitation or altar call became the focus of the service. The gospel song continued to hold sway among Baptists of this era. In particular, Baptists in the South made extensive use of more than thirty hymnals and gospel song books published by a Dallas layman, Robert H. Coleman. Coleman’s music editor, B. B. McKinney, was also an author and composer of gospel songs, and his work in this genre became widely popular in the denomination. The publication of The Broadman Hymnal (1940) which he compiled after he became the music editor of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Sunday School Board in Nashville, Tennessee brought about a significant unity in the congregational singing of Southern Baptists and became one of the best-selling hymnals of all time. Following World War II, music programs in the SBC began to grow significantly. Churches began calling full time ministers of music and “cradle to grave” choral programs were established, seminary schools grew and a Church Music Department was founded at the Southern Baptist Sunday School Board. Enrollment in local church music programs expanded throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. New denominational hymnals using the title The Baptist Hymnal were issued in 1956 and 1975. During the 1960s and 1970s, new forms of church music achieved wide acceptance, particularly the youth musical and the “rock anthem.” In the midst of all this activity and renewal, the gospel song remained a dominant force in the lives of many Baptists and worship continued to follow an essentially revivalistic pattern.
Ecumenical Influences on Baptist Music and Worship
Baptist worship practices during the late 1800s were influenced in two principal directions. On the one hand, the revival meeting became a significant force, with many churches patterning their worship and music after the evangelistic crusade model. On the other hand, some Baptists began to incorporate elements of the British Oxford Movement of 1833, a trend that emphasized the use of liturgical order, robed choirs, and higher standards of church music. During the latter part of the 1900s, other ecumenical influences began to appear in Baptist churches. Some churches derived inspiration from the charismatic movement. The rapid growth and emotional fervor of congregations in the Pentecostal and other charismatic traditions served as a model for the “praise and worship” approach among Baptists, who however, stopped short of actual tongues speaking.
Dennis