What's new
By:
Filters
Christian Forums

This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

does it matter what we wear to church?

I've noticed at our church two different camps on the "what to wear" subject.

First service is billed as Traditional and has a choir and has more traditional type hymns. This service is predominantly the older members of the church, and they do go a bit more formal. Slacks, shirts, skirts, dresses. The pastor wears slacks, shirt, tie, and jacket for this service.

Second service is billed as Modern and has a praise band and more current music (though they slip a hymn in here and there). This service is predominately the families with kids. Here folks go a bit more casual ... nice jeans are seen frequently with appropriate tops. I rarely see someone revealing too much skin though (cept arms, southern ladies love their tank style everything in summer). The pastor loses the tie and jacket for this service.

Either way you get the same message, the same lesson.

Oh, and this is a Baptist church, southern-style.
 
questdriven:

You are getting a lot of good advice here. What we wear should be clean and presentable.
But going to worship God should not require us to wear something that other people consider appropriate.
If you are happy with what you wear, then I'm sure God does also.
The church I came from before I moved, the pastor would once or twice a year wear a pair of shorts and flip flops, and told the congregation that Jesus wanted them here to worship him no matter what.
This met with great approval.
 
mark said:
Appropriate dress for church in Kona, Hawai'i is very different from appropriate dress in Buffalo, NY. I don't think it matters at all, as long as people are comfortable with their dress and it fits the norm for the congregation.

My congregation here in Connecticut is primarily black, primarily West Indian and Nigerian. We get a lot of women wearing elaborate hats, and African prints.
Click to expand...

Yes, I totally agree as different cultures will wear different attire and no one should have a problem with what one chooses to wear as long as they wear something they are comfortable in.
 
for_his_glory said:
Yes, I totally agree as different cultures will wear different attire and no one should have a problem with what one chooses to wear as long as they wear something they are comfortable in.
Click to expand...

True. I was raised to always wear hose with skirts, so I do. But here in the south ladies do not wear hose. Tried that. Felt horribly exposed the entire service. LOL
 
faeriecat said:
True. I was raised to always wear hose with skirts, so I do. But here in the south ladies do not wear hose. Tried that. Felt horribly exposed the entire service. LOL
Click to expand...

lol
I've always worn clothes with relatively high neck lines. (Like the shirt in my profile picture.) So when I wore a v-neck shirt recently I felt so odd at first. xD (It wasn't indecent or anything, though.)
 
questdriven said:
lol
I've always worn clothes with relatively high neck lines. (Like the shirt in my profile picture.) So when I wore a v-neck shirt recently I felt so odd at first. xD (It wasn't indecent or anything, though.)
Click to expand...

questdriven:

With such matters, it's really a matter of what you are used to. Feelings can sometimes be useful, but also can be misleading: you yourself knew that there was nothing inappropriate.

(This is how some people are sometimes guilt-manipulated, even if their mind and common sense tell them they are doing nothing inappropriate, yet residual feelings, the existence of which is latched hold of by people of a somewhat legalist mindset, can sometimes be unsettling for no legitimate reason.)

Blessings.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
questdriven said:
Just something I'm not sure on.
My family has always felt that you ought to wear your best clothes to church, to show respect. That the most appropriate thing to wear to church for women, would be a nice Sunday dress, and for men a dress shirt and pants.

Now, I can sort of see where they're coming from, but don't understand what they're really basing this one. What does the Bible say about this, if anything?
(I wear dresses to church, but I really am not a fan of dresses most of the time. xD I get back into my comfortable clothes as soon as I get home.)
Click to expand...

If you dress as John the Baptist, it is also Ok.
 
faeriecat said:
I've noticed at our church two different camps on the "what to wear" subject.

First service is billed as Traditional and has a choir and has more traditional type hymns. This service is predominantly the older members of the church, and they do go a bit more formal. Slacks, shirts, skirts, dresses. The pastor wears slacks, shirt, tie, and jacket for this service.

Second service is billed as Modern and has a praise band and more current music (though they slip a hymn in here and there). This service is predominately the families with kids. Here folks go a bit more casual ... nice jeans are seen frequently with appropriate tops. I rarely see someone revealing too much skin though (cept arms, southern ladies love their tank style everything in summer). The pastor loses the tie and jacket for this service.

Either way you get the same message, the same lesson.

Oh, and this is a Baptist church, southern-style.
Click to expand...

faeriecat:

Well, re. the arms comment, I wouldn't have any problem with the visibility of arms, but anyway. Blessings.
 
sourberry said:
If you dress as John the Baptist, it is also Ok.
Click to expand...
A long time ago I heard of a church (I think it was in New York) that inadvertently solved this whole dilemma of what people should and shouldn't wear. They were situated in a nudist colony and everyone went to church in their birthday suits! :shocked!

Just sayin... :D
 
Obadiah said:
A long time ago I heard of a church (I think it was in New York) that inadvertently solved this whole dilemma of what people should and shouldn't wear. They were situated in a nudist colony and everyone went to church in their birthday suits! :shocked!

Just sayin... :D
Click to expand...

...there's no answer to this comment... :chin
 
farouk said:
faeriecat:

Well, re. the arms comment, I wouldn't have any problem with the visibility of arms, but anyway. Blessings.
Click to expand...

Nope, there's nothing wrong with it ... it just further illustrates what one's comfort levels can do to how they dress. I feel horribly exposed with my arms bare like that, but most of the ladies in my church think its perfectly acceptable. There's one delightful lady in my SS class who was brought up to never wear pants to church. So to this day she continues to wear skirts, always.
 
faeriecat said:
Nope, there's nothing wrong with it ... it just further illustrates what one's comfort levels can do to how they dress. I feel horribly exposed with my arms bare like that, but most of the ladies in my church think its perfectly acceptable. There's one delightful lady in my SS class who was brought up to never wear pants to church. So to this day she continues to wear skirts, always.
Click to expand...

faeriecat: Yes, well folk can, I guess argue till the cows come home about skirts, pants, hemlines, bare arms, tattoos, rings, etc. but the main thing is to be modest and concentrate on the inward and spiritual, as opposed to what people are wearing.

Blessings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top