Let Christ Be Lifted Up

Baptist gospel refers to the stream of African American gospel music that coalesced in Baptist congregations—especially those affiliated with the National Baptist Convention—where blues and jazz inflections transformed 19th‑century spirituals and lined‑out hymnody into a modern, highly expressive worship music. The style features call‑and‑response between a lead singer and choir or congregation, handclapping on 2 and 4, melismatic improvisation, and a strong focus on testimony and exhortation. Its modern emergence is closely tied to Chicago in the early 20th century, when Thomas A. Dorsey fused blues harmony and rhythm with church songs, helped organize the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses, and popularized a new performance practice that Baptist churches gradually embraced—especially after the National Baptist Convention publicly endorsed the new gospel music in 1930.