I like neckties. I think they look good. In most cases, I don’t find them to be that uncomfortable.
And I think every missionary should leave them at home.
We’ve exported an obsession with this piece of clothing to countries far and wide. In some of those countries, no one wears a tie except for preachers. They aren’t a part of the culture in those places. In others, people who otherwise wouldn’t even own a tie are forced to put one on every Sunday.
In many countries, Christians believe that a preacher has to use a tie or he isn’t worthy of respect. Preacher schools around the world have required their students to wrap this colored cloth around their necks as a sign of their seriousness and spirituality.
In Argentina, it was easy to spot the evangelicals on Sunday: the women all wore long skirts (completely out of style) and the men used ties (often with short-sleeved shirts… ugh). You didn’t even need to see the Bibles under their arms to know, without a doubt, that these people were part of some religious group, a group that had been imported from the United States. They stood out, not because of Christian behavior, but because they tried to dress like people from another place and time.
Do Christians have to dress like Americans from the 1960s to be faithful? Are we supposed to create barriers between us and outsiders by the way we dress? Obviously I think not. What do you think?
You’re absolutely right! On several occasions I have had people, when invited to worship, that said they didn’t have anything nice to wear.
I think the US is the last place on earth where some people can’t hear truth unless the speaker’s wearing a tie.
Although there ARE places outside the US where other vestments are required. Just not short-sleeves and a tie.
Good post! I wish I could be in your anthropology class. If you haven’t read Barbara Taylor Brown’s “Leaving Church” you would enjoy the parts where she talks about going out into the world without her clerical clothes for the first time, and leaving the protection of “mother church.” You have to endure some other parts but its worth the read.
Daniel, that’s a shame. (And a topic for a post I’ve been thinking about writing; hold that thought!)
Nick, I wish that were so. Unfortunately, too many places want to ape the U.S. and one of the ways they can do that is by copying our business fashion. The one who wears a coat and tie shows himself to be a cosmopolitan.
Danny, I’ll have to watch for that book.
Since the U.S. business world has gone so casual, I don’t understand why preachers are still “required” to wear a suit and tie, at least Sunday mornings. Lon would get so hot while speaking, but wouldn’t take off his jacket – even when there was no air conditioning in the building. I remember one summer Wendell Winkler, who always wore a suit and tie, had to be coaxed into taking off his jacket when we were at a park in Henderson for the summer lecture series where he was to speak. Everyone else was in very casual clothes. It had just been engrained in him to always wear “Sunday” clothing when speaking to a group.
I have always felt frustrated when someone tells me they don’t have any nice clothes to wear to church. I try in a very gentle way to help them understand we really are not interested in their clothes as much as their soul’s salvation. I do believe the Lord wants us to be as clean as we can be, as there is water everywhere, but sometimes even that is not possible. We should never “turn up our nose” when someone smells bad, IF that is the only way they can attend. Christ loved everyone, not just those in fine clothes.
I like to “dress up” on Sunday morning, but I certainly don’t expect anyone else to do so, just because I do. We each must make our own choices. I just feel like giving the Lord of my best when worshipping him as a congregation.
Jeanne,
It’s interesting to me that when we’re in Cuba, Juan Monroy wears golf-type shirts during the week, but goes with coat and tie when he preaches on Sunday morning. That’s pretty rough during the summer months.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
Very interesting you should bring this up. Just last Sunday our preacher spoke about why he doesn’t wear a suit and tie. Honestly it had never occurred to me that he didn’t…guess I am not that observant or it just doesn’t matter to me. He said that he doesn’t (I am paraphrasing) want to seem unapproachable to the visitors or make them feel less than for not wearing a suit as well. I do think that we need to show respect and not wear short shorts or shirts that are revealing but I think that God cares more about what is in our hearts than on our backs.
if a coat and tie was good enough for the Apostle Paul…….
I haven’t worn ties in a while. I’ll still wear a jacket if I’m speaking.
Interesting sidebar re: ties, the British medical system has outlawed ties for their doctors and other care givers. They are notorious for carrying germs and rarely get cleaned, if ever.
In Africa, our village-trained preachers never thought of wearing a tie and usually preached with their shirt tales out (as seems to be in vogue with the younger preachers these days). It was the preaching-school studens & grad who usually wore ties, which seemed to match their sense of superiority over the “kopeto,” (roughly translated, “village people”). Missionaries on the teams I served with never, ever wore ties. I recall needing one for an embassy function, but not even having one with me.
Here in Albany, I usually go tie with no coat or coat with no tie. Still feel the need to dress it up a little, though I’m not sure why.
Brad, interesting note about Great Britain. I hadn’t heard that.
Anthony, thanks for the insight into how things were in Africa. I know that when our guys go to the Malawi area, they are told to wear a tie “or you won’t be respected.”
I remember Dr. Osborn telling us in Greek class about a missionary who, while preaching in some Amazon region, gave his coat to a woman so she could cover her exposed breasts. The next evening, she showed up again, wearing the coat … with two large holes cut out so her breasts would not be covered. In that culture for a woman to cover her breasts was the same as advertising for prostitution!
I HATE ties. The last few years I preached at Long Beach, I seldom (if ever) wore a tie, much to the consternation of the older crowd. Now I am in a profession where I have to wear a tie every stinking day! Should have stayed at Long Beach.