Conference Papers by Daniel Thornton
Christian Congregational Music: Local and Global Perspectives, 2021
The use of contemporary congregational songs (CCS) by churches or para-church gatherings is measu... more The use of contemporary congregational songs (CCS) by churches or para-church gatherings is measured semi-annually by Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI). This paper utilises the most sung songs data from CCLI reports pre and post the global COVID-19 pandemic to assess the degree to which the pandemic impacted song choices among local churches, and how (or if) those songs uniquely reflect the changing times. Three regions (Australia, USA, and UK) of CCLI data will be analysed. Any changes between those lists will be noted, and songs new to the post COVID-19 reports will be examined musicologically and theologically for their contribution to the genre. Media studies will also inform the analysis of the most watched YouTube versions of those songs, given the dominance of online engagement with CCS during this period.
The Seventh Biennial Christian Congregational Music: Local and Global Perspectives Conference, 2023
The most popular contemporary congregational songs (CCS) are not only sung as expressions of musi... more The most popular contemporary congregational songs (CCS) are not only sung as expressions of musical worship in local churches around the globe, but they are also firmly entrenched in the Christian Music Industry. This industry is comprised of record labels, publishing companies, rights licensing and collection agencies, as well as CCS-recording artists and CCS-producing churches which all work to promote and monetize CCS. The industry employs a number of systems to measure the success or utilization of these songs among individual Christians and local churches. For example, USA Billboard charts combine several measures including sales, streaming and radio airplay to determine songs' popularity. Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) rely on licensed churches reporting the usage of CCS (for example, projected on screens or recorded) in church services. YouTube records views. Spotify records streams. In this musical world of both accessibility and data collection, what do the various measuring systems tell us about the current state of the contemporary congregational song genre? This paper explores the correlation, or lack thereof, between YouTube views, Spotify streams, Billboard rankings and church usage of the most reported CCS by CCLI. The intent is to determine whether these gauges are consistent across the sector. It will identify if individual engagement with CCS is at odds with corporate (church) engagement with CCS. It will identify if a song's popularity is equivalent to its employment in corporate worship. Finally, it will reveal the still discernible line between contemporary Christian music (CCM) and CCS. Alternatively… On the intersections and divisions between Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) and Contemporary Congregational Songs (CCS)
Integrating Theology & Contemporary Worship Conference, 2017
In Marsh and Roberts' book, Personal Jesus: How Popular Music Shapes Our Souls (2013), popular mu... more In Marsh and Roberts' book, Personal Jesus: How Popular Music Shapes Our Souls (2013), popular music is explored through sacramental theology. A compelling aspect of their work is the creation of the 'Magisteria-Ibiza Spectrum' to describe " affective space " in which we consume popular music. Although this framework is not applied to contemporary congregational songs (CCS), CCS' alignment with popular music's musical, structural, and performative elements provides an insightful case study for Marsh and Roberts' thesis. This paper seeks to apply the 'Magisteria-Ibiza Spectrum' to the most-sung CCS, based on the data from Christian Copyright Licensing International. In so doing, it will show how contemporary western Christians utilise their vernacular musical language to help both articulate and shape their faith. Furthermore, it brings greater understanding to the use of popular music in contemporary worship through the seven functions of music, as proposed by Marsh and Roberts, and provides an opportunity explore transcendence, embodiment, connectedness, and ritual in contemporary worship.
Do generecized Christian lyrics contribute to the acceptance of contemporary congregational songs... more Do generecized Christian lyrics contribute to the acceptance of contemporary congregational songs (CCS) across diverse denominations? This paper uses data from Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), who license over 240,000 churches across scores of denominations in 27 countries, to explore the degree to which CCS lyrics reflect a generic Christianity. The most-sung CSS internationally will be analysed, primarily for their theological content and messages. Following this, a broader picture of key songs will be explored to help identify why CCS containing apparently distinct theological positions are accepted well beyond their primary constituency. Ultimately, this paper will demonstrate that there is a constantly (re)negotiated tension between the theological frameworks implicit and explicit in CCS lyrics and the poetic nature of song lyrics which affords diverse interpretations. It will also reveal the degree to which large platforms for the promotion of CCS, such as conferences and festivals, elevate CCS above the denominationally-aligned local churches in which they were conceived.
The Christian church has been fascinated by the end times since its inception. Jesus addressed th... more The Christian church has been fascinated by the end times since its inception. Jesus addressed the subject on multiple occasions, the apostles reinforced it, and the biblical canon ends with a book of eschatological fanfare. This apocalyptic emphasis has also been lyricised in Christian song from the earliest days of the church. Contemporary congregational songs (CCS), alternatively known as 'praise and worship', originally emanating from pentecostal/charismatic centres, still carry the eschatological heritage of their movements, and Christianity more broadly. This paper utilises data from Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) to explore the degree to which the most popular CCS engage with eschatological ideas. It further examines how apocalyptic lyrics in CCS are musically framed to communicate an authentic contemporary Christianity. This research represents a unique contribution to the intersection between popular music, apocalyptic themes, contemporary Christianity, and notions of authenticity.
Contemporary congregational songs (CCS) emanating from western production centres, primarily the ... more Contemporary congregational songs (CCS) emanating from western production centres, primarily the USA, UK, and Australia, are increasingly promoted to and appropriated by modern forms of Christianity around the world. This paper seeks to explore the globalisation of CCS through the analysis of five prominent transnational songs. Using data from Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), who licence over 240,000 churches across 27 countries to use CCS, this paper initially establishes five songs that have significant global profiles. " Top songs " lists from all of the regions CCLI represents are compared and contrasted revealing not only generically popular songs, but also songs that have a significant national or regional impact, but not a global one. These are identified in an attempt to establish any differences between globally popular, and only locally popular CCS. One of the key mediums for global distribution of songs is the media streaming service, YouTube. The five identified songs are investigated through their most popular YouTube mediations, not only in their original (English) language, but also in other languages. A musicological analysis is undertaken of the songs to explore possible reasons for their pervasiveness across cultures. A media analysis of the videos examines visual, and extra-musical features that might contribute to their popularity. Finally, a lyrical analysis explores the theological and poetic messages that evidently transcend the obstacle of translation. This paper ultimately confirms the westernisation of worldwide contemporary church worship, while at the same time reinforcing the vernacular nature of CCS. The most pervasive CCS are clearly based on western popular music; however, they are generic enough to adopt cultural nuances from the regions in which they are popularised. It also demonstrates the significant influence of certain artists, producers, and churches within various global regions to popularise CCS, raising important issues of cultural hegemony, and the commercialisation of worship music.
The marriage of popular music and Pentecostal worship is well documented. Its advocates point to ... more The marriage of popular music and Pentecostal worship is well documented. Its advocates point to meaningful experiences for the worshiper, or more broadly church growth and the younger demographics of Pentecostal congregations as evidence of its efficacy. Its opponents highlight popular music's secular or profane associations, or the contemporary congregational song (CCS) genre's commercialisation, individualisation, and lack of theological weight in its lyrics. These are the battle lines drawn for the " worship wars " of the 1990s and 2000s. While some of the more acrimonious contentions have dissipated in recent popular and academic literature, underlying presuppositions and arguments have not necessarily been resolved. This paper seeks to freshly reexamine the marriage of popular music and Pentecostal worship from the perspectives of Pentecostal theology and musicology. This paper begins by exploring popular music's somatic, emotive, and metaphysical qualities. Those qualities are also identified in the contemporary congregational songs (CCS) utilised in Pentecostal worship. Following this, the Pentecostal values of embodiment, experience, and encounter are introduced. An alignment will be drawn between somatic popular music and the Pentecostal theology of embodiment. Similarly, a link will be drawn between the emotive capacity of popular music, and the experiential orientation of Pentecostalism. Finally, popular music's unlanguable and liminal elements will be aligned with the Pentecostal theology of encounter. In so doing, this paper proposes a justification for the marriage of popular music and Pentecostal worship. At the same time, it raises the problematic nature...
A poietic perspective (Nattiez, 1990) of contemporary congregational songs (CCS) is that of the c... more A poietic perspective (Nattiez, 1990) of contemporary congregational songs (CCS) is that of the composers, producers, and those involved in the production of CCS, and the broader cultural milieu in which the songs incubate. This paper undertakes poietic analysis of six popularly sung composers of CCS in the Anglophone world; Matt Crocker, Mia Fieldes, Ben Fielding, Tim Hughes, Matt Redman, and Darlene Zschech. While often interviewed by the popular press, these writers/performers are rarely personally engaged by academia. This paper draws on personal interviews with each writer to explore their perceptions of song writing for congregations, their writing practices, experiences, intentions, and their reflections on the individual songs that have been appropriated by churches world-wide. This paper argues that poietic agents have a complex and ambivalent relationship with the songs they write, the industry that supports them, and esthesic (ibid.) engagement with their songs. Tensions will be explored between artistic pursuits and congregational limitations, between personal preferences and public consumption, between local and international platforms, and between industry and internal production expectations. While many studies have focussed on Christians’ engagement with CCS, and some on the analysis of songs themselves, this paper presents a unique counterpoint to the CCS discourse.
Contemporary congregational songs (CCS) are big business. Within Australia, many of the most inf... more Contemporary congregational songs (CCS) are big business. Within Australia, many of the most influential (arguably famous) writers, producers, and worship leaders of this genre are from Pentecostal churches (for example, Hillsong Church and Planet Shakers). While a good deal of ethnographic study has begun to emerge around this genre, its practitioners and practices, by nature these have been focussed on local churches or specific settings. However, their ability to deduce broader attitudes, reception, and cognition of the genre in both corporate and personal settings is limited. However, two significant survey datasets offer insights into Australians’ attitudes to and engagement with this genre. The first, is an anonymous online survey conducted in 2014 by the researcher, which asked Christians who had attended churches in Australia to record themselves singing a ‘church song’ of their choice, and answering some contextualizing questions. The second is selected data from the 2011 Australian National Church Life Survey (NCLS) asking attendees questions related to their experience and perception of musical worship in local church services. By drawing out and analysing the Pentecostal subsets, this paper explores the individual and corporate responses to CCS, revealing the complex dynamics of personal musical tastes and attitudes to engagement with CCS in corporate settings.
This paper argues that while individual musical preferences are profoundly diverse, even within those that attend particular denominational streams, church attendees are generally also willing to cede personal preferences for the greater goal of corporate worship.
Journal Articles by Daniel Thornton
Hillsong’s Swansong? On the Decline of Hillsong Within the Contemporary Congregational Song Genre
Religions, 2025
Contemporary Congregational Songs (CCS) are used for gathered musical worship in churches of dive... more Contemporary Congregational Songs (CCS) are used for gathered musical worship in churches of diverse traditions and denominations all over the world. Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) has measured the use of CCS in licensed churches in various global regions for over 30 years. This article examines the trajectory of songs as they enter and exit the biannual CCLI top songs lists over a 10 year period from 2014–2023. Hillsong has been one of the most prominent producers of CCS, with dominant appearances in the CCLI top song lists for the last three decades. However, they have not released any new CCS since 2021. This article explores what has happened over the past few years to the void left by such a dominant producer of CCS, and what that might mean for the genre and its future.
Religions, 2034
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Understanding “Love” in the English Lyrics of the Original Songs by the Multilingual New Creation Church Singapore
Religions, 2024
This article explores the way in which love is understood and expressed through the original Engl... more This article explores the way in which love is understood and expressed through the original English lyrics of songs by New Creation Church Singapore (NCC) in comparison to the original songs from Hillsong Church Australia (Hillsong) through the period of 2014–2020. While NCC has a multilingual congregation, reflective of the larger Singaporean society, it composes and releases original contemporary congregational songs (CCS) with English lyrics. English is the primary language in Singapore; however, it is shaped by the languages spoken in homes (e.g., Mandarin, Malay, Tamil). Combined with the theological emphases of NCC, its CCS provide a unique lens into English as a common language of worship. This article demonstrates that while the use of English lyrics is a unifying force for multilingual congregational worship, it is also not benign, but actively shaping Christian confession and associated theology and being shaped by wider multilingual contexts.
Religions, 2023
“Performing” and “performance” are potentially contentious words within the context of contempora... more “Performing” and “performance” are potentially contentious words within the context of contemporary Christian worship. However, performative elements are explicit in the lyrics of contemporary congregational songs (CCS), and in video recordings of CCS, through the actions of those on stage and in the congregation, as well as in the broader context of staging, lighting, projection, production, and video editing. However, to date, there is only a handful of scholarly works that explore performing in contemporary worship or contemporary worship as performance and most of them are ethnomusicological. This paper seeks to address notions of performing and performance through a broader lens of the most-sung CCS globally, examined through the disciplinary fields of performance studies, musicology, media studies and theology. It involves a two-fold complementary textual analysis of the most-sung CCS lyrics and the most-watched ‘live worship’ videos of those songs on YouTube. In so doing, this study identifies how the Christian music industry at large officially portrays and languages performance in worship songs and also identifies how performative elements are enacted in the live worship videos released. These analyses are finally synthesized to identify how performing and performance are understood and actively portrayed to and by the contemporary church.
How YouTube Mediations of Global Contemporary Congregational Songs Contribute to an Understanding of the Genre
Journal of Religion, Media and Digital Culture, 2021
Contemporary congregational songs (ccs) are a global genre of Christian worship, driven presently... more Contemporary congregational songs (ccs) are a global genre of Christian worship, driven presently from Western production centres. Streaming media platforms, in particular YouTube, have become essential vehicles for disseminating these songs globally, as well as a way for fans to contribute to the popularity of songs through views, likes, comments, sharing, and uploading their own fan-created videos. While this activity has had some scholarly attention, it has not focussed on the varied forms these videos take and how they contribute to and nuance the definition of the genre. This article utilises the most sung songs data from recent Christian Copyright Licensing International reports across five regions to establish the 32 most sung ccs globally. A media studies analysis is then conducted, with contributions from musicology and theology, of the most viewed versions of those ccs on YouTube. Three typical video forms are identified and discussed in relation to the way they reflect and shape perceptions of the contemporary congregational song genre.
A “Sloppy Wet Kiss”? Intralingual Translation and Meaning-Making in Contemporary Congregational Songs
Religions, 2021
Translation as a form of music localization does not only occur in diverse cultural or lingual co... more Translation as a form of music localization does not only occur in diverse cultural or lingual contexts, it also occurs within an ostensibly homogenous culture and language. The global genre of contemporary congregational songs (CCS) is written and performed through a variety of theological lenses. Sometimes a theological position conveyed in, or ascribed to, CCS can be problematic for certain local expressions of the Christian faith to replicate without needing to alter lyrics, and/or musical content, or at least reinterpret those lyrics in a way which aligns with their theological understanding. This article explores popular CCS, as measured by Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI) which have been either accepted, rejected, reinterpreted, or otherwise altered in order to play their part in defining local (English-speaking) church worship and identity. Translation studies and music semiology are applied to selected CCS to demonstrate this nuanced interpretation of “translation” in the localizing of religious musical practice.
Star Wars Soundtracks: The Worship Music of John Williams
Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 2019
Music and religion have a long and constitutive history. When considering the potential religious... more Music and religion have a long and constitutive history. When considering the potential religious dimensions of the Star Wars universe, musical elements should not be ignored. This article explores the iconic musical scores of John Williams for the Star Wars franchise as a form of worship music. Worship music, especially in Western contemporary Christian contexts, is employed for embodied expression, emotional experience, and spiritual encounter. In a similar fashion, the musical themes and sound world of Star Wars can engage fans in a visceral experience of, and encounter with, something beyond the natural. This article establishes the criteria and effects of contemporary worship music and applies that framework to Williams’s key themes for the Star Wars universe.
On Hillsong’s continued reign over the Australian contemporary congregational song genre
Australia’s popular music charts are not dominated by Australian music. However, in the popular m... more Australia’s popular music charts are not dominated by Australian music. However, in the popular music subgenre, contemporary congregational songs, a single Australian producer has a disproportionately high chart presence compared to international producers: Hillsong Music. This article offers an exploration of and explanation for this anomaly. It examines the extra musical and musical/lyrical components contributing to Hillsong Music’s dominance in the field based on a music semiological approach. Comparisons are made with the international competition within the genre, based on church usage. Finally, this article proposes ways of understanding Hillsong Music within the context of the contemporary congregational song genre both nationally and globally.
A Lament for Pentecostal Scholarship in Contemporary Congregational Songs
Contemporary congregational songs (CCS) have long been associated with Pentecostal/charismatic ch... more Contemporary congregational songs (CCS) have long been associated with Pentecostal/charismatic churches. Although such associations have been progressively changing, many of the key CCS production centres and songwriters are still representative of Pentecostal/charismatic contexts and paradigms. Academic research in the field of contemporary congregational songs is still nascent, but even less developed among Pentecostal scholarship. This article uses the etic/emic research frameworks to explore the idea of a lament for the lack of Pentecostal scholarship in CCS. Particular focus is given to the extant research literature in and surrounding the CCS field and the relationship between researcher and the way they approach or conceive analysis and evaluations of CCS. Finally, I propose some opportunities for emic Pentecostal researchers to pursue in order to enhance this burgeoning field in the face of its profound and ongoing influence in Christian musical worship.
Professional Articles by Daniel Thornton
What On Earth Are We Singing? A 'Key' Perspective
Worship Leader, 2025
I imagine we all agree that Christians singing their worship is a good thing (alongside living th... more I imagine we all agree that Christians singing their worship is a good thing (alongside living their worship, of course!). But that begs the question as to whether contemporary congregational songs are singable? And if so, in what key are they singable? And, is that affected by the range of the song? Is that affected by the gender of the singer? PraiseCharts has provided vital data to investigate these questions with some surprising answers…
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Conference Papers by Daniel Thornton
This paper argues that while individual musical preferences are profoundly diverse, even within those that attend particular denominational streams, church attendees are generally also willing to cede personal preferences for the greater goal of corporate worship.
Journal Articles by Daniel Thornton
Professional Articles by Daniel Thornton