The Jesus Movement

In the late 1960s, strange-looking beings with long, scraggly hair, blue jeans, colorful clothes and beads started showing up on the doorsteps of churches. Most of the churches were like Dylan's Mr. Jones. There was something happening but they didn't know what it was.

It was the "Jesus Movement." God was moving in an unexpected, unusual, and totally groovy way. The hippie counterculture that had brought us LSD, the "Summer of Love," "free love," Woodstock, and Altamont, was turning on to Jesus in large numbers. It was another one of the surprises God springs on His church from time to time!

It all started in 1967, when the "Living Room," the first Christian coffeehouse, was opened in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury by some hippies who had discovered Jesus. The Word of God spread like wildfire among the "street people" who were trying all kinds of spirituality. Soon there were Christian coffeehouses, counseling centers, and communes all over California and the rest of the country, from Sunset Strip to Washington, DC.

Many churches saw that God was doing something and welcomed the "Jesus People." Pastor Chuck Smith was one of the first to welcome long-hairs and ex-dopers to his "little country church" in Orange County. Calvary Chapel became an epicenter of the Jesus movement earthquake. Many other churches, like the Church on the Way, Peninsula Bible Church in San Francisco, and Christ Church of Washington turned on to the Jesus Movement in a big way. Jesus people also spawned the Vineyard and scads of house churches and contributed to the growth of the charismatic renewal movement in mainline churches.

The Jesus people brought their music with them when they came to church. Larry Norman sang, "Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?" Drums, guitars, amplifiers and backbeats freaked out a lot of people who thought the organ was the only instrument God allowed in a church building. Jesus freaks took their rock'n'roll, rewrote the words, and went on the road to broadcast the gospel to the counterculture. By the early 1970's bands playing Christian music and sharing their testimonies were all over the place. Dudes like Larry Norman, Love Song, Second Chapter of Acts, Phil Keaggy, Randy Stonehill, the Resurrection Band, and countless others were playing coffeehouses, nightclubs, churches, and Jesus festivals.

By the early '70s, the movement had bubbled over and made its mark on pop culture. Dozens of books and magazine articles told the strange tale of how Jesus captured the hippies. Pop music started featuring spiritual themes--Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, "Spirit in the Sky", "Put Your Hand in the Hand of the Man from Galilee," "My Sweet Lord" were all hits. Larry Norman sang, "Last year we looked at Jesus from afar; this year He's a superstar" ("Readers Digest").

Jesus People also put their music to work in worshiping God. Guitars started showing up in Catholic "folk masses" in the 60s, and by the 70s they were a staple in Young Life and other youth group meetings. A whole canon of guitar-based worship songs started to come together, led by the Maranatha series. What a trip!

The Jesus Movement opened the way for all sorts of changes in the way we do church today. It spawned a whole "Contemporary Christian Music" genre. In most of today's churches, guitars, drums, big sound systems and worship choruses are in, and not many people even remember how to play an organ or sing in a choir. Worship services are more informal, "seeker-sensitive," and people are showing up at church in shorts and tennis shoes, trends that were all made possible by the Jesus Movement.

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