When many Christians today think of worship music, they imagine a congregation singing contemporary songs accompanied by guitars, keyboards, drums, and a worship band. The songs may be projected onto a screen rather than printed in a hymnal. The musical style may sound more like popular music than traditional church music.
This approach to worship did not emerge suddenly.
One of the most important organizations in the development of modern Christian praise and worship was Maranatha! Music.
Founded in 1971 in connection with Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California, Maranatha! Music helped transform the music of the Jesus Movement into a form that could be distributed throughout the wider Christian world. Its recordings introduced churches to a new generation of songs, musicians, and worship styles.
Maranatha! Music did not single-handedly create modern worship music. Its development also involved the Jesus Movement, Calvary Chapel, the rise of contemporary Christian music, and musicians and worship leaders from a variety of backgrounds.
Nevertheless, Maranatha! Music played a crucial role in moving contemporary Christian music from the margins of evangelical culture into the center of congregational worship.
The Religious and Cultural Context
To understand Maranatha! Music, it is necessary to understand the cultural upheavals of the 1960s and early 1970s.
The United States was experiencing major social changes.
The period was marked by:
- The counterculture
- The civil rights movement
- Opposition to the Vietnam War
- The sexual revolution
- The rise of rock music
- Generational conflict
- Growing distrust of traditional institutions
Many young people rejected the churches and religious institutions associated with their parents’ generation.
At the same time, some young people became interested in Christianity.
This phenomenon became known as the Jesus Movement.
Young people who had previously been associated with the counterculture began attending Christian meetings and churches. Some were attracted by the teachings of Jesus. Others were influenced by evangelical outreach, personal conversion experiences, Christian communes, street evangelism, and informal Bible studies.
The movement was especially strong in parts of California.
One of the most important centers was Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa.
Chuck Smith and Calvary Chapel
The story of Maranatha! Music is closely connected with Chuck Smith, the pastor of Calvary Chapel.
Smith had been serving in traditional Pentecostal and evangelical contexts, but his ministry began to change dramatically as young people from the counterculture began attending Calvary Chapel.
These newcomers often looked and sounded very different from the church’s traditional members.
They might have:
- Long hair
- Beards
- Jeans
- Informal clothing
- Experience with rock or folk music
Some traditional Christians were uncomfortable with the new arrivals.
Chuck Smith, however, believed that the church should welcome them.
This became one of the defining characteristics of Calvary Chapel.
The church’s worship environment was less formal than that of many traditional churches.
Music played a major role.
Young Christian musicians were encouraged to use the musical styles with which they were familiar.
This was a revolutionary development.
For many older Christians, rock music had been associated with secular culture, rebellion, drugs, and sexual immorality.
The idea of using guitars, drums, folk music, and rock music in Christian worship was controversial.
At Calvary Chapel, however, this music became a means of evangelism and worship.
The Rise of Jesus Music
The music of the Jesus Movement was often called Jesus Music.
It was not a single musical style.
It included:
- Folk
- Rock
- Gospel
- Country
- Pop
- Singer-songwriter music
What united these musicians was their Christian faith and their desire to communicate the gospel through contemporary music.
The music was often more informal than traditional church music.
Instead of singing only established hymns, young Christians were writing new songs.
Many of these songs were personal, simple, and directly focused on Jesus.
They frequently emphasized:
- Conversion
- Personal faith
- The love of Jesus
- Praise
- The Bible
- Christian discipleship
This music was especially effective among young people who did not feel comfortable with traditional church culture.
Love Song and the Musicians of Calvary Chapel
One of the most important groups associated with the early movement was Love Song.
The band had originally played secular rock music.
After its members became Christians, the group brought its musical talents into the church.
This was important because Love Song demonstrated that Christian music did not necessarily have to imitate the musical styles of the past.
The band could use:
- Electric guitars
- Rock rhythms
- Contemporary arrangements
- Popular musical forms
while still communicating explicitly Christian ideas.
Love Song became closely associated with Calvary Chapel and the developing Jesus Movement.
Other important musicians connected with the early Maranatha! scene included:
- Children of the Day
- Chuck Girard
- Debby Kerner
- Maranatha! Singers
- Maranatha! Praise Band
- Tommy Coomes
- Chuck Fromm
Many of these musicians would become important in the development of Christian music and worship.
The Founding of Maranatha! Music
Maranatha! Music was founded in 1971.
The organization emerged from the need to record and distribute the music being produced by the young Christian musicians associated with Calvary Chapel.
According to the organization’s own history, Chuck Smith founded Maranatha! Music to promote the Jesus Music being written and performed by the young people connected with the movement. Chuck Fromm and Tommy Coomes were among the important leaders involved in its development.
The origins were relatively modest.
The early recordings were not produced by a major secular music corporation.
The music was distributed through Christian networks and informal channels.
One early album, The Everlastin’ Living Jesus Music Concert, was recorded with financial support from Chuck Smith and featured musicians associated with the Calvary Chapel movement. The album became an important early product of the emerging Maranatha! organization.
The name Maranatha comes from an Aramaic expression associated with the New Testament and traditionally understood as meaning something like “Our Lord, come” or “The Lord is coming.”
The name reflected the spiritual and eschatological atmosphere of the Jesus Movement.
The First Reaction: Controversy and Enthusiasm
The reaction to this new music was mixed.
Many young Christians welcomed it enthusiastically.
For them, the music was accessible.
They could sing songs that sounded like the music they already enjoyed.
A person who had grown up listening to folk or rock music could now hear Christian music that used familiar musical forms.
This made Christianity appear less culturally distant.
The music was also effective evangelistically.
At Calvary Chapel, concerts and worship gatherings attracted large crowds of young people.
The music was often an important part of the experience of conversion and Christian community.
However, not everyone approved.
Many Christians believed that rock music was fundamentally inappropriate for worship.
The use of:
- Electric guitars
- Drums
- Contemporary rhythms
- Informal performance styles
was controversial.
Some critics believed that Christian worship should use traditional hymns and established musical forms.
Others were concerned that Christian music was becoming too similar to secular music.
The debate reflected a larger question:
Can a musical style associated with secular culture be used to communicate Christian truth?
The success of Maranatha! Music helped provide one answer.
From Jesus Music to Congregational Praise
One of Maranatha! Music’s most important contributions was helping move contemporary Christian music from the concert stage into the church service.
Some early Jesus Music was designed primarily for listening or evangelism.
Other songs were written specifically for congregational singing.
This distinction became increasingly important.
The modern worship movement depends heavily on songs that ordinary people can sing together.
Maranatha! helped popularize a style of worship song characterized by:
- Relatively simple melodies
- Repetition
- Short choruses
- Direct language
- Biblical themes
- Easily remembered lyrics
These songs were often much easier for a congregation to learn than the more complex musical structures found in many traditional hymns.
The result was a new kind of congregational song.
The church did not simply sing songs written centuries earlier.
It could sing songs written by contemporary Christians in contemporary musical styles.
The Importance of The Praise Album
One of the most influential releases in the history of Maranatha! Music was The Praise Album, released in 1974.
The album was particularly important because it demonstrated the potential of simple contemporary praise songs for congregational worship.
The music was often gentle, accessible, and heavily based on biblical language.
The songs were not necessarily designed to display the technical abilities of the musicians.
They were designed to be sung.
This was a crucial development.
The album helped establish the idea that a contemporary Christian recording could function almost like a modern hymnal.
As later observers have noted, the music associated with Maranatha! helped create a new repertoire of praise and worship choruses that was adopted by churches across denominational lines.
The Key Players
Chuck Smith
Chuck Smith provided the pastoral leadership that created the environment in which the movement developed.
His willingness to welcome young people from the counterculture was central to the growth of Calvary Chapel.
He also recognized the importance of music.
Rather than insisting that new Christians abandon their musical culture, Smith allowed musicians to use their gifts in new ways.
His leadership was therefore essential to the development of both Calvary Chapel and Maranatha! Music.
Chuck Fromm
Chuck Fromm was one of the most important organizational figures in the history of Maranatha! Music.
He helped develop the organization and played a major role in turning the music of a local movement into an international ministry and music enterprise.
Fromm understood that the songs being created at Calvary Chapel could reach far beyond Southern California.
Tommy Coomes
Tommy Coomes was a musician and important early leader associated with Maranatha! Music.
His involvement reflected the close connection between the musicians, worship leaders, and organizational leadership of the movement.
Coomes had also been associated with Love Song.
The story of musicians moving from secular rock music into Christian ministry was central to the identity of early Jesus Music.
Love Song
Love Song was one of the most important bands associated with the early movement.
The group helped demonstrate that contemporary rock music could be explicitly Christian.
It also helped establish the musical environment from which Maranatha! emerged.
The Maranatha! Singers and Praise Bands
Maranatha! increasingly developed groups whose primary purpose was to record and perform praise and worship music.
These groups helped create the sound that many Christians came to associate with contemporary worship in the 1970s and 1980s.
Songwriters and Worship Leaders
The movement also depended on individual songwriters.
Many songs associated with the Maranatha! catalog became more influential than the individual performers who originally recorded them.
This is one of the most important characteristics of modern worship music.
A song may be written by one person, recorded by another, and sung by millions of congregations.
Maranatha! helped create this culture of shared congregational repertoire.
The Expansion of Maranatha! Music
The organization grew rapidly along with the Jesus Movement and the wider contemporary Christian music industry.
By the late 1970s and 1980s, Maranatha! Music was no longer simply a local expression of Calvary Chapel.
It had become a major source of Christian music.
Its recordings reached churches throughout the United States and internationally.
The organization released albums featuring:
- Praise and worship music
- Contemporary Christian music
- Christian rock
- Instrumental music
- Worship collections
The music became increasingly familiar to evangelical Christians across denominational boundaries.
This was particularly significant because the movement began in a specific local setting but developed into an international influence.
Why Was Maranatha! Music So Influential?
Several factors explain its success.
It Combined Contemporary Music with Traditional Christian Content
The music sounded modern, but the lyrics were explicitly Christian.
This allowed churches to reach a new generation without abandoning Christian themes.
The Songs Were Easy to Sing
Many songs used simple structures.
A congregation could learn them quickly.
This made them highly portable.
A song recorded in California could be sung in churches across the country and eventually around the world.
The Music Was Reproducible
The growth of the recording industry allowed songs to spread far beyond the church where they were first written.
Cassette tapes, vinyl records, radio broadcasts, and later other forms of media helped distribute the music.
The Music Fit the Jesus Movement
The songs were closely connected to a major spiritual movement.
They provided the soundtrack for a generation of young Christians.
The Organization Had a Distribution Network
Maranatha! was able to transform local musical creativity into widely available recordings.
This was one of the organization’s greatest achievements.
The Influence on Modern Praise and Worship
The influence of Maranatha! Music on modern worship can be seen in several areas.
The Rise of the Worship Band
The traditional church choir and organ were increasingly joined—or sometimes replaced—by:
- Guitarists
- Keyboard players
- Drummers
- Bassists
- Vocal teams
The modern worship band has many roots, but Maranatha! Music played an important role in normalizing this approach.
The Contemporary Worship Song
Maranatha! helped establish a song form that became increasingly familiar:
- A simple musical idea
- A short verse
- A memorable chorus
- Repetition
- Direct language addressed to God
This approach would become central to later contemporary worship.
The Worship Leader
The modern worship leader also emerged from this broader movement.
Rather than simply having a choir perform music for the congregation, the worship leader and musicians helped guide the congregation in singing.
This approach became common in evangelical churches around the world.
The Use of Contemporary Culture
Maranatha! helped demonstrate that Christianity could use the musical language of contemporary culture without necessarily abandoning theological content.
This principle would later be applied to:
- Christian rock
- Christian pop
- Contemporary worship
- Gospel fusion
- Hip-hop
- Electronic music
The basic question remained the same:
How can the church communicate the Christian message in the cultural language of a particular generation?
Maranatha! and the Growth of Contemporary Christian Music
Maranatha! Music was part of a larger movement that eventually became known as Contemporary Christian Music, or CCM.
Other important artists and organizations also played major roles.
These included:
- Larry Norman
- Andraé Crouch
- The 2nd Chapter of Acts
- Keith Green
- Phil Keaggy
- Amy Grant
- Petra
Maranatha! was particularly important because of its connection with congregational worship.
Some Christian musicians were primarily recording artists.
Maranatha! helped establish a repertoire intended for the church itself.
This distinction would become increasingly important.
Christian music could be:
- Evangelistic
- Artistic
- Devotional
- Congregational
Maranatha! was especially influential in the last category.
Criticism of the Movement
The development of contemporary praise music was not without criticism.
Some Christians believed that modern worship music was too closely connected to popular culture.
Others objected to the simplicity and repetition of the songs.
Traditional hymn writers and defenders of historic church music sometimes argued that the new music lacked:
- Theological depth
- Musical complexity
- Historical continuity
These criticisms continue to appear in debates over worship music.
Some of the criticism was directed at specific songs.
Some of it was directed at the larger cultural shift.
The introduction of contemporary worship changed the way many Christians understood the relationship between:
- Worship and entertainment
- Tradition and innovation
- Congregational singing and professional performance
- Sacred and secular musical styles
Maranatha! Music was part of the transformation that made these questions unavoidable.
The Global Impact
The influence of Maranatha! Music eventually extended far beyond the United States.
The songs were translated and sung by Christians around the world.
This was part of a broader process in which contemporary worship music became increasingly international.
The songs of the 1970s and 1980s helped create a shared repertoire among evangelicals from different countries and denominations.
A congregation in one country could sing the same worship song as a congregation thousands of miles away.
This trend would become even more powerful with later organizations and movements such as:
- Vineyard Music
- Integrity Music
- Hillsong
- Passion
Each of these contributed to the development of modern worship in different ways.
But Maranatha! Music was one of the pioneers.
The Long-Term Legacy
The lasting impact of Maranatha! Music can be summarized in several ways.
It Helped Make Contemporary Worship Acceptable
What was once controversial eventually became normal.
A worship service with guitars and contemporary songs is now familiar throughout much of evangelical Christianity.
Maranatha! helped make that transformation possible.
It Created a New Hymnody
The movement created a body of songs that functioned as a new generation of hymns.
These songs were often less formal than traditional hymns, but they served a similar purpose.
They gave congregations a shared vocabulary of worship.
It Connected Worship with Popular Music
Maranatha! helped demonstrate that the musical forms of popular culture could be used in Christian worship.
This did not end the debate over music and worship.
But it permanently changed the possibilities available to churches.
It Influenced Later Worship Movements
The musical and organizational model associated with Maranatha! influenced later worship movements.
The idea of recording contemporary songs and distributing them to churches became increasingly important.
It Helped Establish the Contemporary Christian Music Industry
Maranatha! was part of the development of a Christian music industry that eventually included record labels, radio stations, music stores, concerts, and professional artists.
A Historical Paradox
There is an interesting historical paradox in the story of Maranatha! Music.
It began as a response to cultural change.
The Jesus Movement was initially outside the religious mainstream.
Many of its participants looked and sounded different from traditional churchgoers.
Yet the music that emerged from this movement eventually became part of the mainstream of evangelical Christianity.
The revolutionary became ordinary.
The songs that once seemed too contemporary for church eventually helped define the sound of church music.
This is one of the most common patterns in the history of Christian worship.
New forms are often criticized as inappropriate or dangerous.
If they survive, they may eventually become traditional themselves.
Conclusion
Maranatha! Music played a central role in the development of modern praise and worship music.
It emerged in the context of the Jesus Movement, a period when many young people were searching for new forms of spiritual identity and many traditional churches were struggling to connect with the younger generation.
At Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, Chuck Smith and other leaders created an environment in which young Christian musicians could use contemporary musical forms.
Musicians such as those associated with Love Song, Chuck Girard, Tommy Coomes, and many others helped develop the music.
Maranatha! Music then provided the organization and distribution network that allowed this music to spread.
Its importance was not simply that it produced Christian rock albums.
Its greatest contribution was to help develop a new form of congregational praise.
The simple contemporary worship song, performed by a band and sung by a congregation, became increasingly common.
What began as controversial music associated with young people and the counterculture eventually became one of the dominant forms of worship music in evangelical Christianity.
The legacy of Maranatha! Music can still be heard whenever a congregation sings contemporary praise accompanied by guitars, keyboards, drums, and a worship team.
The modern worship movement has many parents.
But Maranatha! Music was one of the most important.
