“Contemporary worship isn’t really new. It started in North America with the advent of Finneyite revivalism in the early 19th century, at least. Arguably, the innovations of the First Great Awakening in the 18th century should be considered “contemporary” departures from the staid worship and services common up until then. Maybe it’s best to say,

“A recent visit to what I suppose to be an ordinary, middle-of-the-road, mid-sized Southern Baptist church stunned me, though it shouldn’t have—I should have known better. What I encountered (they used the word “encounter” a lot) was arguably not a Christian worship service. So what was it?… The bottom line: I believe the service had