Reflections on Worship, 8: Spontaneous Worship

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My first consistent exposure to spontaneous worship was at Timothy Baptist Church, a church in Athens of African-American heritage where I attended with my family for four years in the late 90s. The Sunday worship was packed to standing room only and often I wondered if the floor would give way under the rhythm and enthusiasm of over 250 worshipers in a sanctuary built for about 200.  It is built in to the design of the worship and preaching in the black church tradition, and likewise in many Pentecostal and charismatic worship environments, that spontaneity and even ecstatic response can break out at any time during the music or the preaching. The musicians typically remain at ready for the move of the Spirit at any time, and they lend an appropriate musical background to enter into the flow of the worshipers' encounters with God.

Bethel - Molly Skaggs - Like A Flood ; moving, inspiring, powerful.

Instrumental Spontaneous Worship
Spontaneous worship is on the opposite spectrum from liturgy. Some prefer and even require the structure of the liturgy, while others prefer more freedom. Note that spontaneity can occur within liturgy, and liturgical components are often used within the flow of non-liturgical worship styles. Worship "style" in and of itself is a matter of personal preference; and we do well to realize that different people are comfortable with different levels of structure and freedom, different styles, different pacing, different length of time.

Spontaneity reflects the reality that worship is an encounter with God, and I find the "deviations from the script" in worship meetings to be moving and inspiring. A number of elements contribute to the possibility of the unscripted move of the Spirit. Patience is required; free flowing corporate worship does not stick to a schedule, and periods of quiet as well as use of repetition create space for movement. You have to trust the leaders, a trust and familiarity that develops over time, shared worship, and testimonies. Likewise, familiarity with the music creates the potential for greater impact on your mind, emotions, and spirit, equally true of the traditional hymns that also stir the soul in more structured worship. The appearance of familiar songs or portions of songs can be called upon at strategic times to emphasize the ministry of a message or testimony or simply in the flow of what the Holy Spirit is doing at the moment.

Familiar lyrical phrases within our worship songs stir our soul, representing a familiar pathway in our mind and emotions that helps us connect with God - phrases such as "then sings my soul" or "I'm desperate for you" or "O Magnify the Lord" or "I was blind but now I see" or "I exalt Thee" or "You know my name" or "You are good" or "miracle worker, promise keeper" or "yours is the kingdom and yours is the power and yours is the glory" or "the Lion and the Lamb" or "there's a table that you've prepared for me" or "nothing can separate" or "your love reaches to the heavens" or "eyes haven't seen and ears haven't heard" or "there is power in the name of Jesus" ...the beauty and creativity of worship through the poetry of worship music has no limits.


Elements that align in unusually moving examples include sensitivity of the worship leader to the Holy Spirit; the connection and interplay between the vocalists and the musicians; impromptu exhortations that take a rhythmic or poetic form and blend into the musical flow not unlike jazz improvisations; exhortations which lead the congregation to open and enthusiastic worship; and a willingness to exhibit emotionally free and ecstatic worship in word, in gestures, in dance. All of these elements are found in the Bethel Worship session linked above, led by Amanda Lindsey Cook and Steffany Gretzinger. This selection includes four minutes of holy pandemonium around the familiar and inspiring worship song Great Are You Lord, bookended by spontaneous unscripted crying out, poetry, and prophesy. Great Are You Lord enters the presentation with the existential / spiritual confession of dependence "It's your breath in our lungs..." I featured this song in a blog post March 22. (1) A CCLI top 10 selection, if you are not familiar with the song, this spontaneous worship selection may seem bizzare; if you are familiar, it will take your breath away. Familiarity with the worship leaders and the worship songs facilitates a more powerful encounter with what is being shared. Bethel exemplifies methods and practices that many congregations have embraced, including dancers, flowing flags and banners, and visual artists in the overall worship experience.

Likewise the diminuitive Elissa Smith, who is ten feet tall in the spirit when she is in the flow of worship, leads the UPPERROOM congregation in an exceptionally moving offering of her song After You (first link below). Smith and the UPPERROOM worship team have offered us many passionate and authentic spontaneous worship experiences. Here she weeps her way through a session with an angelic voice which takes us right to the feet of Jesus with the words "I'll spill my oil on your feet, You are worthy, You are worthy!" On the walls of the UPPERROOM worship center we see the words "His presence transforming lives, morning, noon and night." For our sake, that is the purpose of worship.

The team at UPPERROOM focuses on spontaneous worship and as a result they have taken some of our most familiar praise and worship songs and expanded them into a fresh intimate encounter with God, including the second selection below, Open The Eyes of My Heart. "We've come to behold you Lord, we've come to look upon your beautiful face."





I include also a selection by the Spanish musician Jaz Jacob - Tu Has Sido Bueno (You have been good). The words include "I want to raise a song of gratitude, I want to offer my adoration before your feet, To you Jesus, You have been good, You have been faithful, At all times, Your love sustained me." At the end of this presentation, spontaneous worship leads to the familiar Vengo A Adorarte, which English speakers will immediately recognize as Here I Am to Worship. If you are not familiar with Jaz Jacob and her beautiful offering of Perfume A Tus Pies (At Your Feet), I encourage you to look it up. It appears on my YouTube Live Worship Selections list at least twice, including Ingles and Espanol.

Jaz Jacob - Tu Has Sido Bueno + Vengo A Adorarte (Here I Am To Worship)

Note (1)

Reflections 2: To Celebrate and To Encounter

Great Are You Lord, David Leonard, Jason Ingram, Leslie Jordan, of All Sons and Daughters, Journey Church, Franlkin, Tennessee. See also presentations of this song by Centro Vida (2020) and by Amanda Lindsey Cook (2014). Even this early presentation of the song includes some of Amanda's creative and prophetic spontaneous worship elements.

Centro Vida, Grande Eres Dios, 2020

Great Are You Lord, Bethel Worship, 2014