All right, some of you raced ahead of me on this one. Some cook faster than others. Now I’m ready to talk about us. Clothing styles have changed over the years. What was once unacceptable for wearing in public is now commonplace. What was once expected as minimal dress for a Sunday assembly is now out of place.
How should we dress for church? Here are some answers I’ve heard:
- We should dress with the best clothes we have. We should ask ourselves, “How would I dress if I were going to meet with the President?” (Yeah, I know. Lots of you look at this president differently than other presidents. If you just can’t bear to think of meeting with Obama, pretend it’s Nixon)
- We should dress comfortably, like someone who is going to meet with close friends and family.
- We should dress as well as we do for a business meeting. If we wear a suit in our work, we should wear a suit to church. If we wear polos and khakis, wear polos and khakis. (Sorry ladies… you’ll have to come up with your own equivalents)
- We should dress cleanly, but not too fancy. We don’t want to make outsiders feel uncomfortable when they visit.
Have I missed any? What’s your theory behind how we should dress? Dare I ask if anyone has any biblical basis for their choice?
I was raised dressing up as nicely as possible — though we didn’t have a lot of money, dress clothes were still a priority. So it’s kinda hard to just release myself from that. I still feel like I have to dress up, though when I was on vacation with my grandmother, parents, and sister, I noticed I was dressed the most casually. And my boys and husband almost always wear polos and khakis. For the most part, people at our congregation leading singing or the Lord’s Supper will wear ties, but I’ve never heard anyone criticized for not doing so. We have pretty casually dressed people too, so there’s a wide range. I guess as long as everyone’s comfortable with that, there’s no need to upset it. We should dress the way we feel most comfortable, and let others do the same. I think with time the general dress of a congregation will be more casual.
Having said that, I definitely agree that if you have started a new church, especially with mostly “un-churched” people, that would be a good time to dress in a way so as to make them comfortable. That’s kinda like a missionary insisting that his congregation (in a foreign country) speak English, rather than him learning their language instead.
Paul tells Timothy that women should dress modestly and not with expensive jewelry or clothes, because that’s not as important as the good things she does that make her more beautiful on the inside.
I wouldn’t mind seeing some historical background about church dress. It almost seems like something that might have been started by the big churches (Catholicism or the Anglican church) and the rich people dressed in their finest because they were going to be seen by all. And it continues on in the United States today, all because of the rich people who just HAD to dress up. :)
We had a great discussion last week in class about this. My thoughts at the moment (based on I Tim. 2 and I Cor. 11) is that our dress should not “stand out” as what people notice about us, and we should avoid it communicating things about our character we do not intend. This of course would change in every cultural setting. I see this as the general guide for the assembly and in general.
If someone wants to “dress up” to honor God, I am sure he is honored… particularly if that is not something the person does all the time. However, dressing up should not be equated with “spirituality”… neither in others nor ourselves. Secondly, our personal expression of respect should not be expected of others. To say “You must dress up (even “dress your best”)” or the more subtle “You ought to…” is taking authority we don’t have.
The rule of thumb in scripture for the assemblies seems to be the comfort of your brother who gathers to worship beside you. As far as is possible, avoid letting your dress be a distraction or a problem for him/her.
It would be great to get a guy from South Texas in his blue jeans, a Northeasterner in her “best,” a Southerner in her dress, and and Hawaiian in his shorts to discuss this in open forum. Then bring in the Saudi, one from Sierra Leone, and maybe the Argentine… and a couple of others just to see how the discussion changes.
Wow, great question Tim! My views have changed on this dramatically over the past few years.
Years ago I believed that we MUST wear the best we have on Sundays. I also believed that women should always wear a skirt/dress on Sundays and wouldn’t let me girls ever wear pants.
However, I’m not that way anymore. We spend more time fixing up the outward man instead of the inward. We walk in the building in our designer clothes, bags, and shoes and forget that our Savior was homeless while he lived on this earth. I wonder what He thinks of our million dollar buildings, nice vehicles, and bank accts while the poor of our communities don’t even feel comfortable to visit.
Lisa, that’s an interesting question about the history involved, one I hadn’t thought to ask. I’d like to see some answers on that myself.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
Danny,
It would definitely be interesting to bring together people from different cultures. Last year, while teaching Missionary Anthropology, we were reading about a church in a Moslem area that had the women dress as Moslems do, to avoid offense. Some of the students felt it was wrong to subject the women to this. So I mentioned the fact that in many places, women feel it unnecessary to cover their breasts. Should we allow them to dictate the same to Christians here in the States? (Naturally some of the guys said yes :-)
I’d bring James 2 to bear on the subject as well. Seems like the Bible spends more time warning against overdressing than vice versa. (Luke 20:46 anyone?)
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
If mine was a good question, yours was a much better answer. “We spend more time fixing up the outward man instead of the inward” Great quote.
I did a sermon once on “God’s Dress Code.” People were disappointed when I talked about clothing ourselves with Christ, putting on love, etc. They wanted me to tell the girls to quit wearing short skirts.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
Tim, I appreciated the thoughts in your post, and really enjoyed the comments others made. They’ve added a lot.
My first years preaching I wore a suit on Sundays and a tie without a jacket on Wed. night. When I moved to Wyoming I wore a tie one time on Wed night – my first one there. A lady came up, grabbed the tie, pulled on it, and said, “Don’t ever wear this again on Wednesday night.” I didn’t. That was 19 years ago and I haven’t worn one since, even though I’ve left Wyoming!
Bottom line, I don’t care much how people dress, I’m just glat to see them come. For myself, though, I still wear a suit coat on Sunday am, more casually on Sunday pm and Wed night.
The book – I received the author’s copy yesterday. Should be ready in a week or two to sell. I am self-publishing. I found 4 or 5 mistakes in the book. Not big ones, little, but I still hate that they are there. But, b/c it is self-published, it will cost quite a bit to have it changed. So, I’m deciding what to do.
Didn’t know you had a book coming out. What is it? WB
I have adjusted my thoughts on this subject Tim.
I’m not sure what we wear for Sunday “worship” is anymore important than what we wear for our daily worship as long as we do it, in spirit and truth.
Sometimes I wonder if we aren’t doing it, in flesh and error.
Just my thoughts.
Clay
Well said Clay.
We should dress APPROPRIATELY.
Lest anyone think that is a slippery word, I’ll try to offer a solid definition.
To Christians, appropriate means, “according to what the people around you need.” (1 Cor 13:5a) Appropriate clothing means clothing that the people around you need you to wear so that they can see Christ in you, rather than drawing attention to yourself. Can people see PAST me and see God?
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