[This post is part of a series on Leading Your Team & Congregation Through Worship Tensions. Check out the rest here.]
Worship leaders seem to function in one extreme or the other: the prophetic or the planned.
As with all these worship tensions we’re talking about, it’s difficult to pin one better than the other. Is it possible to be musically excellent with tightly constructed arrangements AND flow in the prophetic?
It’s like you have Kevin Prosch, Jason Upton, and ihop boxing with Hillsong, Chris Tomlin, and Desperation Band.
Who wins?
Which is better?
Which should we pursue?
Let’s Frame the Tension
In an effort to make our worship music more commercial, we’ve tightened up the sonic quality, the arrangements, and themes of our songs. I mean, who wants a 25 minute prophetic jam about the wind of the Holy Ghost on Christian radio?
Probably wouldn’t go over too well.
On the other hand, some prophetic worship music is just downright weird and unbiblical – almost like the goal is to be weird for weirdness sake.
Prophetic worship typically involves the spontaneous, “flowing” in the Spirit, making up new songs as the Holy Spirit moves in a service. Planned worship involves crafting a setlist that flows, has a specific focus, and seeks to understand what God wants to do beforehand.
Can the Prophetic and the Planned get along?
Maybe I’m over idealistic, but I believe worship teams can function (and should function) in both realms. We can have excellent plans AND follow the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes an arranged song functions in the prophetic. It doesn’t have to be spontaneous.
Sometimes prophetic moments can be planned. You’re believing God is going to speak at a certain point in the service and you prepare for it.
The goal is to stay dependent on God in both realms. We want our prophetic worship to have the true touch of God. We also want His favor on our Spirit-inspired planning.
Your heart is not exempt from self reliance.
As I shared yesterday, it gets easier and easier to fake it.
Whether you’re highly prophetic or an expert planner, your heart is not exempt from self reliance.
We need to guard our dependence on the Holy Spirit like we guard our bank accounts…like we guard our children.
God, keep us humble, keep us trusting, keep us dependent on your Spirit as we worship.
Question: So what are your thoughts? What do we need more of today, the prophetic or the planned? You can leave a comment by clicking here.
Yes! You can definitly do both! I think you have to…it’s inevitalbe…You plan first….and then let the holy spirit…take the set list and turn it upside down!!!
That’s the way I see it.
How often does the Holy Spirit turn your setlist upside down?
Not all the time…every once in a while…lately though, since I don’t lead worship as often…it’s every time… We’ve been recording a lot…so when I do a “house show” or lead worship at a friends church…the holy spirit moves strong in me. probably because my soul is sooo thirsty for it…you know what I mean?
I hear ya. Getting desperate for God is so key.
I think you have to have both. They both have their place within the context of a worship service, but it’s about balancing the two. I think having room for both will provide a more fruitful worship experience, but like you said, it requires we become completely dependent on the Holy Spirit.
Yea, I think both is good. I definitely tend to lean more towards the planned. How about you?
I tend to plan like it depends on me, but execute the service like it depends on God. Sometimes God will “interrupt” things in a great way and we’ll go with the flow, but more often than not, He works within what we’ve planned to speak to us and move through us.
I am more for the planned, but I always let God take over…sometimes, He has completely taken out every set song and replaced it with other ones right before we play…
I would say unequivocally that I (We? My wife and I often lead together) do that very thing. My primary growth as a believer was in a P.C.A. (reformed) environment, and my wife grew up in the charismatic renewal movement – as we’ve “become one”, our worship leading contains elements of both. I often plan out a set in detail, even planning possible alternate songs – you grow to recognize those options if God “strikes” – and I even ahead of time will usually point out moments to our band where, if the Spirit is really moving, spontaneous praise and prophetic time may occur, and encourage them to plan for it – to be prepared for spontenaity, as a Jazz player would be. When it happens, it’s oh so beautiful, but the set is planned out even if it’s just a beautiful gathering of the church singing praises, which God is also glorified by.
That’s great how you prepare your band, Shannon. Planned spontaneity really does have similarities to jazz. Thanks for the analogy!
Hey man, glad to see you tackling this stuff. I’m with you on the “tension” idea – that’s a good word for it. Andy Stanley would say “it’s not a problem you solve, it’s a tension you manage.”
For what it’s worth, I blogged my 2 cents about it a while back, here:
http://www.worshipperiod.com/?p=397
Keep up the good work!
Jeff
@jeffsomers
Good post as well, Jeff. A couple of your examples seriously had me laughing out loud 🙂 Thanks for joining the discussion!
Here’s a concept that I have tried to use when balancing the planned and prophetic.
Allowing the Holy Spirit to lead as I am leading others.
I like it. It lets us know that God is doing things in and through our planning that we may not realize. Thanks for joining the discussion bro!
This is a killer insight: “Whether you’re highly prophetic or an expert planner, your heart is not exempt from self reliance.”
Love the tension series.
As you’ve alluded – “prophetic” and “spontaneous” are not the same thing. Any jam band can play spontaneous music, but it’s not prophetic utterance.
The term that fits my approach, I think, is “Davidic”. But that will have to be for another blog post.
I would love that post, Rob. How can we be more prophetic in our worship leading? If spontaneity isn’t necessarily a factor, how do we develop the prophetic? Any tips?
This is a fantastic topic! I most definitely think having both is very important and balance is really the key. I am the worship pastor for a small church in Spokane, WA and I have found that planning my worship set and getting the time tight sets us up to be more open to the Spirit’s leading so if I feel God wants me to say or do something we can do so. The team knows that should I do something like that they should just keep playing the chorus or verse until I direct them where to go musically. Also, as a keyboard player and technology geek I use effects, loops, etc. but have found a way to make it so that I’m not salve to them. The technology should never hinder me from communicating what God puts on my heart. This fact, along with the many worship pastor friends I have, caused me to starting a blog talking about topics similar to this. Really love what you are writing here.
Thanks for chiming in Aaron! Awesome to hear how God is using you.
Good stuff. I have always leaned much heavier in what you are calling a prophetic style yet I am serving in an environment now where our culture isn’t really conducive for that … At least in our Sunday environments.
I see that word “prophetic” used a lot these days and I am curious if people define it properly. I mean … What exactly is “prophetic worship” …. Does spontaneous singing make it prophetic? I think not. That’s quite a can of worms to crack open though!
Why isn’t your Sunday environment conducive to the prophetic? Is it more seeker driven? Good question about “prophetic worship”. I think it is typically thought of as longer, weirder songs 🙂 I think we can come up with a better definition.
The holy spirit is not just a tool or item. Remember who is in charge; God. Seen revelation in god and in truth, and you will surely find because you seek.