Studies conducted by Your Church since 1993 reveal these findings plus other insights into the status of church worship music. By 1996, however, a major shift had occurred. Traditional music was giving way to contemporary music and blended worship. Surprisingly, little has changed since then. Regular use of digital keyboards and drums has more than doubled since 1993.
Guitars are also more popular.
By 1996, almost half of the churches were using guitars. Today 73 percent of U.S. churches regularly use guitars during worship. The number of churches using brass, woodwind, and stringed instruments has increased, too, but fewer are using acoustic pianos. The number of churches that use organs has remained virtually the same. Though there are approximately 56,000 fewer contemporary music churches than traditional congregations, about 3.2 million more people attend a contemporary worship service each week than a traditional one.