For decades, worship was pretty by the book — the hymn book. Then much of the charismatic/pentecostal/non-denominational church shifted to new short songs that would be repeated over and over and the prophetic and spontaneous was prioritized. Finally, we began seeing churches primarily sing songs from Bethel, Hillsong and Elevation and with the new songs, new tech, and the rise of multisite churches came a prioritization of structure. Now, we hear some prominent worship leaders warning against being too “on-rails” with worship and we feel the pendulum shifting back to prioritize the spontaneous.
I’m not here to argue one or the other; I think a healthy dose of both is beneficial. I do want to encourage one thing when planning services and spontaneity. When Holy Spirit is involved in the planning, neither planned nor spontaneous need rationed. As silly as it sounds, we treat Holy Spirit, the prophetic and the will of God as something that is erratic. But Holy Spirit knows what He wants to do in a service next year just as much as He knows what He wants to do in the services this weekend. And when we treat Holy Spirit like a whimsical aspect of God that is only in the spontaneous, we hinder our understanding of God and we hinder how we allow Him to use us. In the same way, when we box God in to what we have on the calendar, we limit the facets of God that He wants to reveal to us.
The plan and will of God for a service is available in the planning process, so ask Him to reveal it. A fresh wind is available in the service, so ask Him to lead you in it.