Updated June 1, 2020
One of the areas of worship leading that continues to remain mysterious for many people is spontaneous and prophetic worship. Some worship leaders are simple curious about this topic. Some want to dive in but are just not sure exactly where to start. Some leaders disagree with the premise entirely and believe all of our church gatherings should be planned out down to the minute with no spontaneity at all.
I like to think of this topic in terms of Spirit-Led Worship. Spirit-led worship includes spontaneous and prophetic worship, but it goes even deeper than that.
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. John 4:24
This is a very practical guide that is broken into five sections.
- Spiritual Foundations
- Musical Foundations
- Spirit-Led Planning
- Spontaneous & Prophetic Worship
- Flowing Together as a Band
I want to emphasize that I think it is very important to take in the whole of this guide and not just skip to section #4. The foundations of our spiritual lives, our musical skills and our planning are vital in cultivating the tools needed to flow in effective spontaneous and prophetic worship!
Before we get too deep, I also wanted you to know about my FREE PDF Guidebook called Sing A New Song: Four Ways To Unlock Spontaneous & Prophetic Worship!
1. Spiritual Foundations
Intimate relationship with God
Eternal life is why Jesus died (John 3:16), and Jesus said eternal life starts NOW by knowing God!
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 17:3
The first and greatest commandment is loving God (Matthew 22:36-37). Without relationship, trying to be spirit-led, spontaneous or prophetic will amount to new religious formulas, and copying those who are sincerely prophetic. Playing Bethel songs does not amount to being Spirit-led. God has a unique and personal way for you to relate to him, specific things to speak to you, and creative ways to use you in leading worship. This will all flow out of your personal relationship with the Lord. I would actually encourage worship leaders to sing alone to Jesus as much or more as you sing to Him in front of others.
Being close to God and rooted in the reality of His love for us (Ephesians 3:17-20) will free us from fear that would hinder stepping out in faith/spontaneity (I John 4:18). Many of the practical things that we will discuss happen naturally as worship leaders develop deeper intimacy with God. Do NOT miss this point. First things first.
Lifestyle of Worship
You can’t be “Spirit-led” if God is not your leader (Galatians 5:16-26). Being a true worshiper means submitting one’s life fully to Him as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). Everything we do, not just “ministry”, must be done for God’s glory (Colosians 3:23).
Lifestyle of Prayer and Fasting
Spirit-led worship leaders have thriving prayer lives. They engage in daily personal prayer and regular corporate prayer. They have discovered the worship leader’s secret weapon in the secret place of prayer and fasting (Matthew 6:5-18, 9:15). They are learning to hear God’s voice -through solitude, silence, journaling and Bible meditation.
Intentional Bible Study and Meditation
This point is super important. If you are going to sing spontaneously in worship, you must have good theology. Otherwise, you could be singing lies or teaching false doctrine through your spontaneous, unbiblical songs! I would suggest every believer and worship leader read through the whole Bible, preferably once a year (2 Timothy 3:16) – Youversion can help. In your private worship time, take Bible verses to pray through, sing through, meditate on, etc. (2 Tim. 2:7).
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16
Local church commitment
Being in a Spirit-filled, Bible-believing local church provides accountability, humility, perspective, relationship, Bible teaching and spiritual authority (Hebrews 10:25, I Peter 5:5, I Timothy 5:17, Acts 2:42-47). This is a vital spiritual foundation.
Ministering prophetically
It may seem obvious, but if you want to lead prophetic worship, you need to learn to prophesy! Learning to relay God’s word to others prepares you to do the same when you are leading worship. (Acts 2:17, I Corinthians 12-14). The book “You May All Prophesy” by Steve Thompson is a great resource to grow in your understanding and activation of the gift of prophesy.
2. Musical Foundations
Playing spontaneously requires greater musical skill than only playing through pre-arranged songs. The best spirit-led worship leaders have taken the time to develop their musical craft so that they can focus on the Lord and be ready to release the sounds and songs that God’s Spirit gives to them during worship.
Memorize songs
Many church musicians are glued to their music stand the entire worship set. I would encourage those of you wanting to engage in spontaneous, prophetic and Spirit-led worship to memorize the songs. Memorizing the songs allows one to focus on hearing God’s voice and being led by the Spirit in the midst of the worship set. You are less focused on playing the right chords, so you can focus on the Lord. Practically, not having your eyes fixed on the chord chart allows you to watch and communicate with the band during spontaneous moments, instead of staring at the page.
Playing by ear
Learn to play music by ear. Learn to recognizing progressions, intervals and harmonies. The best way to do this is to simply put on music and try to learn to play it. Keep rewinding certain parts, play them over and over until you figure it out. Eventually your ear will develop to recognize the music. Developing this skill will allow you to more easily follow one another in spontaneous worship moments.
Music theory
Likewise, Spirit-led worshipers should understand music theory. Growing in your understanding of rhythm, keys, scales, chords and harmony will be extremely beneficial.
I would encourage you to learn the Nashville number system, which allows a leader to call out chords by number in order to communicate a spontaneous chord progression to a band.
Multiple instruments
In any band situation, it can be very helpful to learn multiple instruments. This allows you to understand what is happening beyond your own parts, and it can greatly improve communication among band members.
It would be great if the keyboard player could recognize a guitar or bass playing a “G” or “C”. It is nice if the guitarist can watch the keyboard player’s left hand to learn the root notes.
This comes in especially handy during spontaneous moments, when you are trying to follow what is happening in the moment.
Various styles
Expand your musical horizons by learning a bit of multiple styles – rock, pop, jazz, gospel, metal, classical, blues, etc. This improves your musical arsenal so that you can pull out whatever style of music is needed in a spontaneous worship moment. At certain times, a unique style of music may best represent what God’s Spirit is doing in a room. You want to be able to prophesy musically in a way that reflects what God is emphasizing. You also need to be ready to follow your fellow band-mates, who may instigate a spontaneous song in a style that is unfamiliar to you.
Songwriting
Spontaneous worship is essentially writing a song in the moment. If you have not given any thought on how to craft songs, then spontaneous worship is probably going to be challenging for you and unpleasant for those who are listening.
It really helps to understand the interplay of chords, melody, lyrics, harmony, phrasing and rhythm. You can learn what melodies and scales work with what chord progressions. Then, when you are in a moment of worship, you can begin to craft your spontaneous song on-the-fly in a way that is enjoyable, musical and pleasing to the ear.
3. Spirit-Led Planning
Being spirit-led does not mean no planning, and planning does not mean the Holy Spirit can not be involved. The key is to invite the Holy Spirit into your planning, and allow Him to change/alter your plans throughout the entire process, even at the last minute. Ask Him to give you themes, songs and ideas for the service – write them down and make a plan. If God doesn’t speak specific songs to sing, assume there is freedom to chose.
Personal Preparation
As you are seeking to hear God’s voice for direction of your worship set, trust your heart in God’s presence. If you are in prayer/worship and a song pops into your head, it’s probably the Holy Spirit leading you to a song. Perhaps God will allow a certain song to connect with you personally as a way to lead you in what songs to sing.
I would suggest that you spend time worshiping with the songs on your set list and see how the Spirit leads during your private worship. Practice spontaneity and learn to flow alone with God. You may discover other songs to which you can transition easily to create a medley. You may develop spontaneous choruses that can be repeated during the service.
Spirit-Led Band Practices
Then I would also encourage you to practice spontaneity and prophetic worship at your band practices. Do not wait until you are in front of others. If you do not practice, you usually will not do it or it will be rough.
Arranging for Spontaneity
As you are planning your worship set, arrange the actual songs more loosely. Arrange the beginning and ending, but plan to have moments that will linger – a musical interlude/solo, a repeated bridge/chorus, etc. Plan to have parts that will repeat indefinitely until the worship leader cues the band to move on to the next part.
For those of you leading church services with a limited amount of time for worship, you will need to plan for spontaneity in a realistic way. If you usually do 4 songs, maybe do 3 songs and plan on some extended and/or spontaneous worship. If you are allowed 20 minutes of musical worship, then plan for 15 minutes of songs and leave five minutes for vamping, flow and spontaneous worship. Give the Spirit some room to move!
Spirit-led planning involves your personal preparation, your team preparation and planning the songs and set in a way that makes space for lingering and flowing.
4. Spontaneous and Prophetic Worship
Better Caught Than Taught
One thing I have found is that Spirit led worship is many times better caught than taught. I would recommend that you find a way to play and sing with other spirit-led and prophetic worshipers. It will rub off on you. This could also include listening to prophetic and spontaneous worship music.
Extend Existing Songs
One of the greatest ways to break out of the rut of just playing songs is to begin to extend your songs and add repetition – the musical term for this is vamping. You could do things like repeat the chorus, return the bridge and play through the last 1⁄3 of the song again, etc. Worship leaders can develop simple hand signals to cue the band to repeat their current song portion or to return to a different part of the song (such as the bridge).
On a side note, adding repetition can actually help people start to think about what they are singing and why. Sometimes we breeze through songs so quickly that they never sink in.
Spontaneous Worship
Now for some definitions. Spontaneous worship is when a worship leader and/or singer(s) begins worshiping from their heart in a free-flow style. The Psalms instruct us to sing a new song (Psalm 33:3, 96:1, 98:1, 144:9, 149: 1). Spontaneous worship is not necessarily prophetic (more on that in a minute), but it is biblical and powerful!
Moses and Miriam sang spontaneous songs after being delivered from Egypt (Exodus 15). Simeon respond to Christ’s birth with a spontaneous song (Luke 2:29-32). The nations respond Jesus’ salvation by singing a spontaneous song (Isaiah 42:10).
There are seven Hebrew words translated into “praise.” One of those words, tehillah, has the implications of a spontaneous song.
And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise [tehillah] unto our God (Psalm 40:3)
Tehillah is used each time the word praise appears with ‘new song.” Psalm 22:3 says God is enthroned on our praises [tehillah] which helps us understand why God’s presence comes in a particularly strong way when we sing spontaneously.
Spontaneous worship can happen during instrumental breaks or during a repetitious part of the song. Many times this happens at the end of a song as the band worship leader is vamping on a certain chord progression. Leaders and singers can all sing together at the same time to encourage the congregation to join in with the team, and the room can be filled with “tehillah” – but watch out! This is incredibly powerful.
Spontaneous Choruses
Sometimes a spontaneous chorus can develop. A spontaneous chorus is a phrase or stanza that is written in the moment and repeated. A great example of this is the song Surrounded by Upper Room Music, which has now been turned into a regular “song” by Michael W. Smith, Bethel and others. However, the origination of this song was a spontaneous chorus. You can see how it developed on the original video below.
Prophetic Songs
When we prophesy, we communicate God’s heart to people at a specific time. A prophetic song then is simply communicating God’s heart through a song. In a prophetic song the singer sings over the congregation from God’s perspective as the Holy Spirit speaks to the singer.
Prophetic songs in Scripture include David’s messianic prophecies in the Psalms (2, 8, 16, 22, 34, 45, etc.), Song of Solomon, Mary’s song (Luke 1:46-55), Zacharias’ prophecy (Luke 1:67-79), etc. In fact, most biblical prophecies were actually sung.
The Bible seems to indicate that music helps facilitate prophecy, because it helps us to engage with God in our spirit/heart. So then prophesying with songs make a lot of sense.
But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him. 2 Kings 3:15
“…I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with understanding.” I Corinthians 14:15 (context is discussing tongues and prophecy)
While spontaneous worship is a free-flow of praise from the worshiper to God, a prophetic song is a Spirit-inspired song from God’s perspective to the people. In fact, a prophetic song does not have to be spontaneous (although many are). A prophetic song could be a pre-existing song that is sung just at the right moment as the Holy Spirit leads you.
Below is great example of a spontaneous prophetic song from the prayer room at the International House of Prayer. It starts with a prophetic “oracle” – an extended time of singing a prophetic word. It then transitions into a prophetic “chorus”, where they begin singing a few phrases of the prophecy over and over.
Prophetic Instrumentation
The Bible contains many commands to play instruments before God as an expression of praise- I Chronicles 15:16, Psalm 150, etc. Many believe that when you see the word “Selah” in the Psalms that it was indication of a musical interlude.
In David’s Tabernacle, David trained the musicians to play skillfully but also to prophesy with their instruments.
Moreover David and the captains of the army separated for the service some of the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, stringed instruments, and cymbals. I Chronicles 25:1
If prophesy is communicating God’s heart, then sometimes the instruments themselves communicate God’s heart during worship!
Here is Leonard Jones prophesying on his violin.
You can see while the musical foundations are vital for musicians to be prepared to prophesy on their instrument. God may want to communicate something requiring fast playing or an unusual style. Get ready musically so you can prophesy!
Also, sometimes the vocalists begin to prophesy “instrumentally” by singing non-lexical sounds – such as “la la la” or “oh oh oh” using a particular melody that prophesies just like an instrument.
Antiphonal Singing
Antiphonal singing involves multiple singers singing in an alternating way, and this can be spontaneous worship, singing prayers or prophetic singing.
“And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD“ Ezra 3:11
And the heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers across from them, to praise and give thanks, group alternating with group, according to the command of David the man of God. Nehemiah 12:2
Antiphonal singing can be planned, but it is really powerful when two (or more) spirit-led vocalists flow together.
Sometimes this happens as one singer sings prophetically and one responds worshipfully.
Example:
Singer 1: “My beloved I desire you to draw near to me”
Singer 2: “I will draw near, oh God”
5. Practicals of Flowing as a Band
In order for all of this to work well in a band setting, there are some practical things that can be put in place to make the worship set flow better.
First of all, the leadership must be very clear. Who is directing the band during spontaneous moments? Many worship leaders develop hand signals to indicate to the band members where they are going next. Hand signals could signify “repeat”, “chorus”, “bridge”, “get louder”, etc.
I would also suggest arranging the players on the stage so that everyone can see one another. The typical rock band setup with a “front man” is limiting. I think it is especially helpful to make sure the drummer can see well. Consider how an orchestra is arranged in a semi circle stage, so everyone can see. Some worship teams known for their spontaneity are beginning to set up in a circle or semi-circle.
I would also contend that the traditional church format of rotating musicians in and out makes it harder for musicians to learn to flow together. Having a consistent band lineup allows the members to learn each other – how they play and how they communicate. This familiarity can really alleviate hesitancy, create a sense of freedom and allow some amazing spontaneous moments to come out.
Want to Go Deeper?
If you enjoyed this blog, then you’ll want to check out my FREE PDF Guidebook called Sing A New Song: Four Ways To Unlock Spontaneous & Prophetic Worship!