When we meet together, what things must we do, what things might we do and what things are incidental to what we do? Most of us would presumably (hopefully?) quickly reach for our bible. We do what it says we must, we don’t do what it says we mustn’t. Simple.

Whilst that is absolutely right, there are lots of things that the bible neither says we must do nor does it say we mustn’t do. It doesn’t tell us whether to sit or stand for worship, there is no particular instruction on the time of day for worship, there is no instruction on whether sermons should be extemporaneous or pre-prepared. The list goes on and on.

It can be helpful to us to think in terms of elements and forms. Some would speak of elements and circumstances. Elements are those things that scripture says we must include in our worship. These are things like preaching, praying, singing and the like. Forms or circumstances are how we do those things that scripture doesn’t explicitly demand. Elements are the things we must do; forms are the mode in which we do them. Elements are things scripture demands we do; forms are the means by which we do them that scripture does not prescribe.

For example, the scripture is clear that we are to meet together. I would argue the pattern is meeting together on the Lord’s Day. This is an element of our worship. However, the time of day we meet, where we meet and the length of our service are all forms that we may work out wisely for our context.

Similarly, the scripture is clear that we are to preach the word. This is an element of our worship that must be present. However, the length of our sermons, whether we preach systematically or thematically, whether we preach noteless or with a script, these are all forms that scripture doesn’t prescribe and we can work out ourselves. We may have strong feelings on the best way, we may think certain approaches are more important than others, I may well even agree with you, but the forms are not things we ought to demand and make necessary for all ultimately because the scripture doesn’t.

The same would go for any element of our worship. Whether it be singing, preaching, or whatever. These elements rightly ought to be present in our worship because they are things scripture says should be present. But the form they take is open for us to do in the way we believe is most helpful.

I think a similar way of thinking can be helpful to wider church life too. There are elements of our Christian lives and worship coram deo that are effectively elements. Things like meeting together on the Lord’s Day, for example. But then there are plenty of things that I think are good and helpful, but I have to accept are not specifically demanded in scripture. Think of things like home groups or midweek bible studies, for example. I think it is perfectly reasonable to encourage people into these things, I think they are good means of accomplishing some biblical ends, but I also must accept they are not specifically demanded of all believers are, therefore, fall under the category of ‘helpful’ not ‘demanded’. They are effectively forms rather than elements of wider church life.

I am mindful of this whenever we want to encourage our membership into things or even when we encourage people into membership altogether. There are things I may deem helpful for them, good for them, things that I really would like them to engage with that I think will only serve their spiritual good, but in the end I have no right to demand what Jesus doesn’t. So our weekly theology breakfast, our midweek community groups, various modes of outreach, even the prayer meeting – all great things, all stuff I think is good and helpful and will serve anybody who comes – these are non-prescribed forms that I might describe as helpful but wouldn’t want to demand. They are good, but they are not vital. They are valuable, but they are not demanded.

I think we evangelicals can tend towards the legalistic. After all, ‘activism’ is a key component of what it means to be evangelical, if we run with David Bebbington’s famous quadrilateral. Activism, by its nature, means doing stuff. And for what it’s worth, I am evangelical because I believe a lot of the stuff evangelicalism wants to encourage is good and helpful. It is godly means and forms of accomplishing some good and biblical things. But I want to resist our tendency to say that because this is good, it is right and necessary. I don’t think we have the right to demand and make necessary what Jesus doesn’t, good as the thing we’re encouraging might be. Being clear on what are elements and what are forms, what is necessary and what is incidental or circumstantial can really help us as we seek to encourage our people into what is good without demanding what Jesus doesn’t deem necessary.