Spontaneous Worship

"...I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the mind also." - 1 Corinthians 14:15

If the worship leader is sensitive to the moving of the Holy Spirit, then somewhere at some point in the worship session, there will be moments of spontaneous worship and praise. It may happen at the beginning, middle or end of a song; it can happen more than once during a session also.

When the worship leader senses the moment, and takes the risk of stepping forward in faith to release that spontaneous song, many times I have experienced that something happens – the level of worship always goes up a notch or two and the Lord is rightfully glorified.

Spontaneous worship usually happens in one or more of the following ways:

• An additional line or two complementing or amplifying the theme of the song, usually done during the song itself. A brilliant example is the Vineyard live recording of the “Come and follow” album. There is this song led by Andy Park “Who is like our God?” (Brian Doerksen, Brian Thiessen & Brian Duane, Mercy/Vineyard Publishing). After every verse, Andy sings a few spontaneous lines that beautifully enhance the feeling of awe we already feel with the written lyrics of this song. It is so well done, that the attention is always on the Lord and at the same time we can’t help but notice the sincerity of the worship leader singing from the heart out of genuine love for Him.

• Free praise, worship & thanksgiving – sometimes in word and sometimes in song. At times when nothing seems to be happening and inspiration seems far away, I like to start in this manner. I gently guide the people to lift their voices and join me in praising the Lord and just pour out our hearts to Him. Our God is always ready to make His home “in the praises of His people…” (Psalm 22:3) and things start happening now – the praising gets more and more intense, I start strumming some chord on my guitar, the words form into melodies and I get inspiration to start the song. This way, my breakthrough is already achieved and the people find it easier to be engaged right from the beginning of the session. When a song or a medley of songs has helped people to worship God intimately, our hearts cannot help but express our feelings for Him in a spontaneous outpouring of praise, worship and thanksgiving at the end of the song. Taking the same song as an example, at the end of it, you can listen to Andy leading this outpouring with the people joining in and it’s so awesome just to listen to it!

• Singing or speaking in tongues – Not advisable when the majority of the congregation is non-charismatic and is not gifted in speaking in tongues. But if they are familiar with this charism and I feel the Holy Spirit is inspiring me, then I go for it. For me, it mostly happens when I am doing a song of the Holy Spirit and suddenly I sense the need for spontaneity and normal words are just not there – here speaking or singing in tongues becomes the offering of spontaneous worship. “…for when we do not know how to pray properly, then the Spirit personally makes our petitions for us in groans that cannot be put into words;” – Romans 8:26. Sometimes, prophetic words or visions also come out from the people after an outbreak of tongues.

• The spontaneous song – this occurs very rarely for me to be honest! When the session moves to a point where the congregation is in silent worship, the Lord sings over His people through the worship leader or someone else in the Worship team. Steve Kuban’s “I will fight for you” (Spirit And Truth Publishing) is a classic example of this. Or it could be the people’s song to the Lord too like “We will ride” (Andy Park, Mercy Vineyard publishing).

It’s good to practice this gift in personal Worship to know what kind of melodies or musical keys you are comfortable in. When on stage and the Lord inspires spontaneous worship, you don’t want to be caught singing off-key!

So how do I know if it’s inspired by the Spirit of God or a spirit of performance? Well, if it inspires the people to deeper worship or helps them to draw closer to God, then it’s definitely a move of the Holy Spirit. Else, it’s a move of the performance spirit and it will only take the focus away from God and instead draw attention to me and the worship gets lost somewhere in between!

The worship leader should be prepared to take risks on stage and actually go for it in faith to know better how to use this gift. Personally I feel very satisfied if I’ve guided the people to these moments of spontaneity at least once during a session. However I need to remember that spontaneity is not a technique – it has to come from my heart (and people can usually tell when it is or is not from the heart!) to inspire someone else to join in and celebrate the Lord with me.

“Cry and shout for joy, you who live in Zion, for the Holy One of Israel is among you in his greatness.” – Isaiah 12:6