Spontaneity v. Structure at Church

Hello again!

I have had a few very encouraging conversations recently. One of them was about the difference between spontaneous and structured church services and the benefits of each. I thought I would share my thoughts because I greatly benefited from the conversation.

Structured church services tend to have a clear set of goals with a detailed schedule and prepared elements to help accomplish those goals. I am naturally a fan of structure and this would describe the majority of church services in the west. The difficulty with structured services is that they easily become routine and entire congregations become accused of "going through the motions" week after week.

Spontaneous church serves may have a clear set of goals but have a very flexible schedule and few(er) prepared elements. The draw of spontaneous services is the breaking of routine that insights a heightened level of expectancy in the attendees. You can't "go through the motions" when there are no motions. Spontaneous services are often criticized for emotionalism and a lack of consistency.

The conflict arrises when spontaneous services among a typically structured church service. Something spontaneous happens (maybe the time of worship is extended or the preacher changes his topic) and result is increased engagement from a partially confused yet intrigued audience. If the spontaneous accident is a success then the debate raises about if all services should be more spontaneous. Suddenly everyone in the room was on the edge of their seat in expectancy for God to do something and this radical engagement is attributed to the spontaneous nature of the service. So the conversation becomes about rejecting structure and incorporating more spontaneous elements (thus the pendulum swings).

I would guess that many of these discussions are inconclusive because (I believe) they are founded on a misconception. Where does the Bible say that God cannot be active in structure? Honestly, I think the whole thing is in our heads and that God can encounter us equally in both formats. The spontaneous element merely triggers something that should always be present: expectancy. Why can't we go to church expectant to encounter God in every form of service? Why aren't we always engaged? Honestly, it's not about spontaneity or structure, but about the readiness of our hearts to receive.

It is true that structure creates a routine and that routine can become monotonous, but that is not an inherent fault of structure but of our hearts. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy spontaneous stuff as much as the next guy, but I feel like sometimes we misunderstand structure and spontaneity. The congregation's engagement and expectancy are not the result of your church's latest promotional idea or service format. They are the result of leaders casting vision and setting the example of encountering the living God.