Matt:

As for attitude...well...I’m not sure there has been a single comment on this article that have rivaled the bitterness of any of yours.

I’m not sure what you meant?  Please explain.

Randy,

You are so right about culture........

We spent some time in Yuma,AZ in 2004. Keep in mind I am a Midwesterner. As a Pastor, I almost always wore a suit and tie in the pulpit, and I certainly wore the officialBaptist clergy garb when visiting in the homes of Church members and visitors.

While in Yuma........the pastor of a Church we visited came to visit us. He was wearing a nice polo short, shorts, and sandals.  I was shocked. Then I laughed at myself. His garb was very normal for the area. Very few of the Churches we visited in Yuma had a suit wearing pastor. He was dressed according to the cultural norm.

When it is 115 degrees on a nice July day........I suspect we can go without suits

Now having said that.............I think a pastor out visiting, here in Ohio, with sandals and shorts is not being wise or cognizant of his culture. When in Rome do as the Romans do.

To reach our culture we must know our culture.

Bruce

Adam and Eve before sin were naked and not ashamed.  Clothing is a result of sin.  Paul said “I become all things to all men so that I may win some.” I am not going to wear a suit and tie if I want to teach the youth or minister in the nursery.  If I am with business men, or the seniors group a suit and tie would be better recieved than Jeans and a T-shirt. I think a lot of it depends on the demographics of your church.  The Bible is clear that we should not stumble our brothers with our liberty.  Although we may have liberty to wear something, is it benefical to wear it?  Am I causing someone to stumble becasue of my freedom?  If so, even though they have the problem, I need to excercise self control.  As many have said, if an unbeliever comes in dressed inappropriately they should not be discouraged to enter into fellowship.  Satan loves to sow discord in the church and if he can use our atire to do it he will.

What an interesting discussion.  Everybody will have a different opinion, here.  But I think the important thing is not to put your preferences or personal beliefs ahead of scripture.  The way people dress is not an important issue.  Different churches have different cultures and that results in different ways to dress.  Personally, I think ties are from the devil, and I wear suits to weddings and funerals.  But that’s just me. 

A lot of the comments question where to draw the line, or make a distinction between believers and unbelievers.  I don’t think that even matters.  What if people started coming with Starbucks and flip-flops?  Well, who cares?  I know that’s a loaded question and of course some people would care a lot, but to me, it doesn’t matter.  I don’t care if a person has a bottled water during a church service.  It’s just a meeting in a building. 

I think we get off base when we think that God really cares what we wear to church.  If people would spend more time preparing their heart than preparing their hair, we’d probably be better off.

I think dress is a non-issue.  Come as you are.  And when you do come, we don’t expect you to conform to the way we dress either.

Found this quote online about modest dress, along with a scripture reference:

A modest dress is one that is long enough to cover the thigh (Isaiah 47:2) and that is not tight and clinging and that is not revealing.

Now read Isaiah 47:2:  “Take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil.  Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams.”

There’s more here in an article called:  “Are men lusting after your wife or daughter?
http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/aremen.htm

Hmmmmmmmmmm…

Todd

Wow, it is amazing that this topic still draws so much discussion, but is it like many other issues that confound the Church.  It never seems to go away and it continues to be divisive.  It diverts our attention from God and the work Christ gave us and makes us look worse than the Pharisees.

What is Sunday Worship for? 

It is for the family of God to come together, commune, learn, grow, and Worship.  We are brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are the people of Grace.  We are called to Worship by the Spirit.  We are not called to a fashion parade – no matter what culture or political stand that fashion happens to represent.

God is NOT impressed by our cleanliness or appropriateness nor is he impressed because of our coolness or rebellion, as these pertain to our clothing.  Like any parent, God is impressed because His children want to be with Him more than doing anything else.

He is happy when we come together to Worship. He is happy because we want to better understand Him and his Word.  He is happy because we want to be in His house.  He is happy because we want to share the love he has given us with our fellow brothers and sisters in faith.  He is happy when the seeker is welcomed regardless of dress, wealth, illness, deformity, or sinful nature.  He is happy when we reach out to those in need of Him and His Grace.  He is happy when we are like Christ.

If you as pastors make little of the “dress code,” your congregation will follow.  If you pleasantly remind those with “dress code” issues of the purpose for church and Worship, they will come to the conclusion that being like Christ is more important than what we wear.  Those on both sides the aisle need the same instruction.  In Christ, there is no slave or free, no male or female, no Greek, no Jew …. Only fellow Christians… treat each other with respect and love… in all you do glorify God.  If you stick to this message, the dress code thing will take care of itself.

I will embrace you regardless of your personal dress code.  I will look past what is important to the world and look at what is important to God.  I will freely share the love and Grace given me by God.

I can’t believe we are still talking about this.....Don’t be distracting....respect the culture you are serving or work toward changing it and let’s talk about stuff that really matters....Please don’t waste any more time with this topic.

Wow, I found this while looking to see how other churches address the “dress code” issue for their youth groups. I find valid points on both sides of the fence but didn’t notice anyone having the same issue that I have had.
What do you do when members of your youth group insist on wearing t-shirts that promote suicide, drugs, and the occult yet they are too blind to realize that is what they are doing? In my situation, we stood our ground and they walked out. We tried to manage the situation before hand by allowing the two who would only wear black to design our youth shirts. They did, they said they liked the shirts. Then they never wore them. Instead they would wear shirts with razor blades, skulls and pentagrams.
How would you guys and gals deal with this?

Johnny,
Sorry but I think you’re the one complaining!  And we don’t have one day a week to worship God - we should be ‘worshipping’ Him every minute of every day with our mind and heart ... we don’t need to dress up to do that

Let me share a personal perspective on this topic:

I am currently serving as “Director of Music Ministries” for a church whose “slogan” claims that they have “Open hearts, open doors, and open minds”.  My husband serves the church as a pianist/organist.  I have a degree in church music and my husband is putting the finishing touches on his D.M.A. in piano and choral conducting.  We both grew up in Christian homes, my father is a pastor, and my husband’s family is heavily involved with their church ministry in Brazil.  We have spent our entire lives dealing with the issue of the church “dress code”, and recently I have formed some very strong opinions concerning the subject. 

When my husband and I took the position at our current church, we were specifically told that there was no dress code, and that member’s attire ranged from jeans and t-shirts to suits and ties to some who work in the medical field coming to Sunday services wearing their scrubs (because they are on-call during the service).  Originally, we chose to worship in slacks and dress shirts/polos, however over the past few months we have been teaching the youth Sunday school classes, and have been dressing in jeans and the occasional Christian t-shirt inorder to identify with our youth.  Over the past week, my husband and I have been called into separate meetings by church committee members and have been told that “someone” wants to make sure that we “realize that our bodies were created to be the temple of God”, and that we shouldn’t be playing the organ in jeans because it is such a “sacred instrument”.  They then proceeded to ask us if there was a reason why we had been so disrespectful in our attire (did I mention that I was wearing dress shirts and heels with my nice, clean, non-holy, dark blue jeans?). 

We were polite to the individuals who spoke with us and respectfully requested that we decline from responding and schedule a meeting to discuss this issue further.  (basically because both of us realize that if we would have said what we were thinking, it may not have been pleasant.) It is completely proposterous and infuriating that these issues are still being discussed in 2007.  There is no biblical basis for saying that a pair of jeans is inappropriate attire for Worship, and as far as I know, this body that was created to be a temple was created naked.  Our church is attempting to heal from a recent split and a change of leadership, and the most important thing on the agenda is whether the “music people” are wearing jeans or not?  It just makes me want to scream, “what’s wrong with you people! Don’t you understand that Jesus Christ was born in an animal stable full of manure!” My Saviour, in all of His Glory, chose to be born in a lowly manger with the beasts of the field… I don’t ONLY Worship Him on Sunday mornings from 11:00 to 12:00, I Worship Him with every breath I take.  And if a manger was good enough for the King of Kings, how can a mortal man in 2007 tell me that my pair of Gap jeans is not suitable?  Christ came to bring life, and to bring it more abundantly, not to argue about whether jeans were appropriate for church.  What I choose to wear does not, nor will it ever, define who I am, or who I am in Christ.  The only one who has the right to judge me is Christ himself, and last time I checked, He doesn’t look toward outward appearances, but rather at the heart.  And I know I can approach the Throne of Grace with confidence.  We are all sinners in one way or another, and I am no exception, and the gossipper is just as bad as the muderer.  How dare any sinner place judgement on another, HOW DARE THEY.

What really gets me, is that now I will have to go into a meeting and find a way to remain respectful to a people who now look down their noses at me, rather than view me as the collegue and minister that I am, all because of a pair of jeans.  (and did I mention that the same individuals who questioned our fashion are the ones I see in jeans nearly EVERY Sunday?)

Anyway, I appologize in advance if this message seems a bit harsh, but I have got to get some frustration out somehow, so that I may act in Christian love towards these individuals who have been blinded by their tradition.  Please pray that the right words may be spoken inorder to keep this from happening to someone who may not be as strong in their faith (like a church visitor who happens to be a non-believer, or a youth who is already considering not attending church anymore).

Sorry this entry is SO long!!!  (but thank you for listening!)

I am of the belief that what you wear tells alot about who and where you come from.  If you have the means to dress nice do it...if not, come as you are but by all means make an effort.

My issues with church attire are directed at the leaders of the church.  When I see music worship leaders dressed in flip flops, torn jeans, WELL used t-shirts and peddle pushers I feel that God is getting slapped in the face.  Church leaders are held to a higher standard in heaven and on earth.

Ack! I wish we could edit posts.  I needed to fix my URL and respond to Tami L’s last post:

Tami, you may believe that clothing tells you a lot about a person and that’s probably what you were taught. But I believe it tells you absolutely nothing about what’s going on inside them (except that they want to impress peope with a particular image). That’s what I was taught.

See my previous post for what that means in church.

Thank you for your comments, they were welcome.