{"id":9672,"date":"2012-10-27T09:05:50","date_gmt":"2012-10-27T09:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=9672"},"modified":"2021-03-25T13:20:51","modified_gmt":"2021-03-25T13:20:51","slug":"preparing-spontaneity-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/preparing-spontaneity-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing spontaneity in worship &#8211; part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Worship-music.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-9698 alignleft\" style=\"margin-left: 8px; margin-right: 8px;\" title=\"Worship music\" src=\"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/Worship-music.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"283\" height=\"287\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I think a lot of us would like more moments of spontaneity in our worship.\u00a0 Moments when we go with the sense of what the Spirit is doing in the room, or respond to issues in the congregation, or allow the flow of the music and words to lead us into unexpected places.\u00a0 But it is not always as easy as we would like it to be!\u00a0\u00a0 This is the first of a two-part article, where I\u2019ll be looking at the big picture of \u2018what is spontaneity, and why encourage it?\u2019, and then in the second part we\u2019ll take a look at the \u2018how\u2019 of preparing yourself, your musicians and your church for \u2018going with the flow\u2019.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is spontaneity in worship?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>It is worth saying to start with that this can take a variety of forms.\u00a0 For example, spontaneity could be:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Singing a song you hadn\u2019t planned &#8211; either led by you or the congregation.\u00a0 This could be a pre-written or improvised song, and the musicians might or might not join in.<\/li>\n<li>Highlighting or changing particular words in a song ad-lib.<\/li>\n<li>Unplanned instrumental sections of music, which may include \u2018prophetic playing\u2019 where instruments express something of God\u2019s truth in musical form.<\/li>\n<li>Space for spontaneous prayer, possibly in tongues, or other forms of prayer or intercession.<\/li>\n<li>Having prophetic words spoken &#8211; by the leadership or congregation.<\/li>\n<li>Giving an instruction you hadn\u2019t planned (eg &#8211; \u201clets sing this song facing the door and use it as a prayer for our town\u201d, or &#8211; \u201cyou may want to kneel as we sing this\u201d, or &#8211; \u201clet\u2019s spend a moment in silence before God\u201d, etc).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I don\u2019t want to give the impression that I value these things over planned or structured services.\u00a0 A well thought-through service can run exactly as you expected, and be both honouring to God and deeply meaningful for those who attend.\u00a0 God can speak to us in our planning!<!--more--><strong>Why bother with spontaneity?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Having said all that, there is something quite special about having the freedom to move where we feel nudged to, \u2018in the moment\u2019.\u00a0 I think there are a few reasons for this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>It gives space for God to do a \u2018now thing\u2019, something he wants to highlight at that specific moment.<\/li>\n<li>It keeps the worship leader mindful that he\/she is not ultimately in charge, and reminds us to continually listen to God for his promptings.<\/li>\n<li>It allows for the people in the room to shape where the worship is going &#8211; not merely the planning of two or three people.<\/li>\n<li>It gives people space to express themselves and their response to God.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Of course, some churches or individuals are resistant to this kind of worship.\u00a0 They fear manipulation, emotionalism, and general chaos.\u00a0 Rather than dismiss them as unspiritual we ought to take their concerns seriously, and work through ways of encouraging spontaneity in safe and pastorally sensitive environments.<\/p>\n<p>1 Corinthians 14 has some important messages for us about worship that happens spontaneously:<\/p>\n<p><em>6\u00a0What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up&#8230;. 27\u00a0If anyone speaks in a tongue, two\u2014or at the most three\u2014should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret&#8230;. 39\u00a0Therefore, my brothers and sisters, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. 40\u00a0But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We can see from these passages that Paul encourages spontaneous contributions from the congregation and leadership, but that he also insists on order, not chaos.\u00a0 We are to make sure that our motivations lie in the notion that \u2018the church is built up\u2019 &#8211; not that we can show off how \u2018spiritual\u2019 or spontaneous we are.\u00a0 This kind of thing can be manipulative and damaging if we don\u2019t approach it with humility and pastoral sensitivity.\u00a0 It can also be chaotic and distracting if we don\u2019t come prepared to lead it with diligence, confidence and good communication with the band and church.\u00a0 In the next part we\u2019ll be looking into the practicalities of how we can do this, but for now a few questions to get you thinking and commenting:<\/p>\n<p>1)\u00a0 What would you say was the value of the spontaneous in worship?\u00a0 Have you got examples of things happening \u2018in the moment\u2018 that have been meaningful for you and your church?<\/p>\n<p>2)\u00a0 What are the main barriers to the spontaneous in your corporate worship life?\u00a0 How could you constructively overcome them?<\/p>\n<p><em>3)\u00a0 <\/em>Have you ever \u2018prepared for spontaneity\u2019?\u00a0 What does that look like?\u00a0 How can that be a positive thing, rather than \u2018faking it\u2019?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Sam Hargreaves teaches at London School of Theology (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.lst.ac.uk\/\">www.lst.ac.uk<\/a>) on the Theology, Music and Worship programmes.\u00a0 He co-leads engage<strong>worship<\/strong>.org which provides training and resources for innovative, creative and world-changing worship (and where you can find the original version of this article) and also the free song site RESOUNDworship.org.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Other posts you might like:<\/h2>\n<div id=\"container\">\n<div id=\"content\">\n<div id=\"post-3965\">\n<div id=\"footerWrapper\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/top-10-dos-donts-congregations\/\">10 Do\u2019s &amp; Don\u2019ts \u2013 Congregations<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/dynamics-more-than-just-loud-or-soft\/\">Dynamics \u2013 its a lot more than just loud or soft<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/playing-by-ear-worship-music-theory\/\">Hot to transform your worship team\u2019s musicianship<\/a><\/p>\n<p>How do you evaluate a worship service?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/top-ten-signs-you-lead-a-smaller-church-worship-ministry\/\">Top 10 signs you lead a smaller church worship ministry<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/pastoring-a-worship-team-part-1\/\">Pastoring a worship team<\/a><\/p>\n<div id=\"nav\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I think a lot of us would like more moments of spontaneity in our worship.\u00a0 Moments when we go with the sense of what the Spirit is doing in the room, or respond to issues in the congregation, or allow the flow of the music and words to lead us into unexpected places.\u00a0 But it [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4108,"featured_media":22019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[98],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Preparing sponteneity in worship<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We like moments of spontaneity in worship. 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