Unfortunately, too many people do!
I grew up in a very strict, traditional Pentecostal church. Women’s dresses had to be a certain length. Most of the women wore hats or a lace kerchief on their heads. Our arms were covered and most of the time, we wore white cotton gloves to church. Red dresses were frowned upon because red was for hussies (my aunt’s words).
Outside of church, women were not allowed to wear pants that had zippers in the front. Women’s pants had to have a zipper down the side, down the back or an elastic waist band. Zippers down the front were unacceptable because they were considered men’s clothes. Women did not under any circumstances, wear pants to church.
A lot of things have changed, even in the Pentecostal church. I grew up with a lot of issues concerning what’s appropriate and what’s not. Fortunately, I got over most of them, especially those things that pertain to what’s appropriate for church.
Who Made the Rules
Where did the rules for appropriate church attire evolve from? They didn’t come from Jesus. When we read the Bible, Jesus is usually talking to people while sitting on a hillside or in some other casual setting. And the Bible is quite clear that Jesus met people where they were. Did you every hear of Jesus or the apostles chastise anyone because of what they wore. Did they ever turn anyone away because their skirt was too short or their pants hung below their butts? Because of emphasis on appropriate church attire, some people won’t go to church because they don’t have a nice dress or a clean suit. Someone has given them the impression that they have to dress a certain way to go to church.
The Good News
More and more churches are adopting a relaxed dress code. At some churches even jeans, shorts and flip flops are acceptable. The important thing is to get people into the church so we can minister to them. Am I an advocate of extremely low cleavage and daisy dukes? No. But I am an advocate of come as you are, invite Christ into your life and get saved. Hopefully, the “look at my cleavage and daisy dukes” crowd will be led by godly people whose example will encourage them to change how they dress.
If you want to wear your Sunday’s best, that’s fine. But don’t look Suzie up and down if she shows up in a jean skirt and Dr. Scholl’s sandals. I have what I call “church lady” clothes. They are in my closet collecting dust. I wear them every now and then but most of the time I wear slacks or a pants suit. At this stage in my life I just want to be comfortable.
Who cares what you wear to church? Not me! And certainly not Jesus.
Do you care what people wear to church? Leave us some comments.
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Tags: appropriate church attire, clothes for church, what to wear, what to wear to church
September 8th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
PREACH!!
March 26th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Actually Jesus does care what you wear:
And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.
Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
For many are called, but few are chosen. (Matthew 22:11-14)
April 10th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Jorge, the passage that you refer to is a parable in which Jesus is teaching about being prepared to accept Christ. Being properly clothed for the wedding actually refers to the condition of our hearts being ready to accept Christ.
This parable is not about the clothes that we wear to church. However, I will add here that I believe that we should be mindful of what we wear to church and dress with a modicum of decency.
May 5th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Jorge, if you take every Bible passage literally then you must also think that Jesus is a loaf of bread or a well full of water. Open your spiritual eyes. There is so much more, really. And all of it is just pointing to the reality that can flourish within you if you are only willing to grasp it.
“People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things…” Matthew 6.32
October 28th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
Jesus never said repent for you don’t dress good enough to get to know me. Nope he said repent to the Pharisee(the religious church of Christ day) because they were looking good on the out side and yet they were dead(with out God you are dead) on the inside. If you are not a child of God you are dead to God. It is that very spirit that looks on the out side that put Christ on the cross. That very spirit Jesus came against over and over through out the New Testament.
I hope and pray anyone who is found with this within there heart will repent. For this is not the heart or unconditional love of Jesus Christ. If you cant even see the heart Jesus had when he said you who is without sin cast the first stone(when talking to the Pharisees about the prostitute)then if I were you I would question if I truly am saved at all. I can tell you the Jesus I know and love looks at the heart. That’s why he said the prostitute would go to heaven before the pharisees because it’s not about the out side but it’s about your heart. Jesus is alive and he is a real person. If he is not within your heart and all you do is play dress up on sundays. Then I will let you know you are not saved.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart<-! People it's about the heart. You are not your body, or the clothing you where. We are spirit beings. Jesus looks at the heart.
Everything I just said lines up with the books of Matthew,Mark,Luke and John of the NT bible.
Blessings in Chirst
October 29th, 2010 at 12:11 am
(A part of the sanctification process is allowing the Holy Spirit to teach you all things. Dressing up for Sunday Church is not one of them. Dressing so your brother in Christ dose not stumble is one. When the Lord teaches you how to dress modest then Praise God. Yet we are NOT to pass judgment on a persons outward appearance but on the fruit they produce. Jesus looks at the Heart.)
Thought I would add that in to what I just posted.
March 5th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
I’m 16, from a pentecostal church. i wasn’t brought up in it my friend took me. i always knew she was different, because of the way she dressed.! If it wasn’t for my curiosity on why she dressed that why, i probably wouldn’t even be in church.
The way you dress does matter!
Holiness involves both the inner man and the outer man (I Corinthians 6:19-20; I Thessalonians 5:23). We must perfect holiness by cleansing ourselves of filthiness both of the flesh and of the spirit (II Corinthians 7:1). For example, lustful thoughts are as sinful as an act of adultery(Matthew 5:27-28), and hatred is just as sinful as murder (I John 3:15). Holiness, then, includes attitudes, thoughts, and spiritual stewardship on the one hand and actions, appearance, and physical stewardship on the other. One without the other is insufficient. Inward holiness will produce outward holiness, but the outward appearance of holiness is worthless without inward holiness. For example, a modest spirit will produce modest dress, but modest dress is of little value if it conceals a lustful heart.
Holiness or sanctification is not a means of earning salvation but a result of salvation. As such, it comes by grace through faith. Holiness cannot be manufactured bywords of the flesh but must come as we submit to the leadership and control of the Holy Spirit. We are holy in a twofold sense. On the one hand, we receive an immediate sanctification (separation from sin) through the death of Christ when we are baptized in Jesus’ name and filled with the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6:11; Hebrews10:10). God counts us holy by imputing Christ’s righteousness to us. On the other hand, we must follow after and seek holiness (Hebrews 12:14). We must strive after holiness and receive the progressive work of sanctification. We are already sanctified, but we are also called to be saints (sanctified, holy ones) (I Corinthians 1:2).
Early Baptists were at first grouped with the Puritans, but they began to organize separately in England in the17th century. They, too, adhered to holiness teaching. Some Baptist groups still remain quite conservative on holiness issues. For example, the Baptist Bible Fellowship opposes dancing, drinking, smoking, gambling, and themovies.27 in 1984 the Southern Baptist Convention admonished all members not to use tobacco or alcohol.
Many independent Baptists teach against worldly amusements, immodest dress, and women wearing pants, and women cutting their hair. Sword of the Lord Publishers prints a number of books and booklets that deal with these issues, including John R. Rice’s Amusements for Christians and Elizabeth Rice Hanford’s Your Clothes Say it for You. Liberty Baptist College, founded by Jerry Falwell, has a dress and conduct code for its student body of over 4000: “Men are not allowed to grow beards or mustaches, or to wear hair that touches their shirt collars or covers the tops of their ears. . . . Women are expected to dress modestly. Students are not allowed to dance or attend movies.”
Many times what we wear helps to mold their expectations as well as our own. When a woman wears an immodest dress, she begins to think of herself as seductive and acts accordingly. Other people perceive her as provocative and treat her as such, which reinforces her behavior. In short, appearance both reflects and to large degree determines what we are in the eyes of self and others.
We must ask what practices of the time concerned God enough for Him to inspire this passage. What clothing did Paul have in mind when he warned against immodesty of dress? In a day when women wore robes to the ankle, what type of immodest dress existed? If Paul found immodest clothing in an age characterized by greater modesty of dress than our own, certainly he would consider many styles of clothing today to be immodest. As Chapter 8 will note, many women of the time tucked in their tunics above the knee for convenience in certain activities, and the early church fathers considered this immodest. God was concerned about modesty of dress in a day when even exposing the upper leg was considered immodest. In Isaiah47:2-3 God considered baring the leg and uncovering the thigh to be shameful exposure of nakedness. This gives us a good idea as to what God would regard as the minimum standard of modesty, regardless of culture.
The basic reason for modesty of dress is to subdue the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. The exposed body tends to arouse improper thoughts in both wearer and onlooker. To implement the purpose behind modest dress, the body should basically be covered, except for those parts which we must use openly for normal living. This suggests that clothes should cover the torso and upper limbs. Reasonable guidelines, then, would-be women’s dresses over the knee and sleeves to the elbow. In addition, we should avoid low necklines, sleeveless dresses or shirts, very tight clothes, very thin clothes, and slacks on women because they immodestly reveal the feminine contours of upper leg, thigh, and hip. Likewise, swimming in mixed company is immodest. Since the primary effect of makeup is to highlight sex appeal, we reject makeup as immodest.
To some degree modesty is culturally relative. We must certainly dress in a manner that would be considered modest for the occasion and in the judgment of our culture. For example, 19th century society considered it improper for a woman to expose any of her leg in public. Applying principles of Christian liberty, a Christian woman of that day should not have worn a knee-length dress, for this would have brought reproach upon her and the Lord. However, there must be a minimum of modesty that is absolute. Otherwise, if society condoned total nudity, Christians could walk around nude. If so, we could delete I Timothy 2:9 from the Bible as irrelevant.
Finally, the heart must be modest and motives pure. Conduct, gestures, gait, body language, and speech must be modest. If a woman wants to, she can display her body immodestly and act seductively even in the most modest of dresses. We must never use dress to promote immodest conduct, and no degree of external modesty can cover-up an immodest, lustful spirit.
A sign posted in an Orthodox Jewish district of Jerusalem provides an interesting definition of modesty for women’s dress:” Passage permitted ‘only’ to women dressed modestly! Long dress, lower than knee length (no slacks).Long sleeves, beyond elbow length. Closed Neckline”(National Geographic, July 1985, p. 30).
God bless you! I will be Praying for you.
March 5th, 2011 at 1:10 pm
Charity, the purpose of this post was not to promote immodest dress in church. I believe in modesty so as not to tempt anyone.
I was raised in the Pentecostal church and am well aware of its dress code. Some of those “modesty codes,” in my opinion, are unreasonable. For example, I am 59 years old and when I went to my childhood church, we were not allowed to wear sleeveless dresses or blouses. Can you imagine how hot it is in a church in the summer with no air conditioning – in long sleeves and a dress up to my neck.
Your quote is from an Orthodox Jewish publication. Tell me this, since they don’t believe in Jesus’ divinity, why do you quote from that publication. Jesus was quite revolutionary in his day. The thing he did best was to meet people where they are. You can’t get people into the church if you insist on such a strict dress code. I believe in modesty but not to the point that it is prohibitive.
While you are praying, pray that God will open your heart to people who are searching for Jesus. If you approach them the way you replied to this blog post, you will scare them away. Re-read your Gospels. Jesus was not a condemner, he was an acceptor and very tolerant.
April 10th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
I happen to believe that Charity is right in everything she is saying, and she is very wise for her age! The problem we have in todays churches is that pastors never talk about modest dress and so it isn’t even an issue for most Christians. They dress as they please and when visitors come in they don’t see an example for them to follow if they become a Christian. Notice I said “most Christians”. Because this issue is never dealt with from the pulpit, new Christians don’t have any example to follow, not other church members and not instruction from the pastor either.
June 16th, 2011 at 8:47 pm
I think to a certain point what you war does not matter. But At my youth a lot of the girls wear shorts that are shorter than most spandex that volleyball players wear. Its really distracting because there are a lot of adolescent boys that also attend the group and i know the girls don’t mean it but things like that can be inappropriate at times.
Its not a beach or the club scene. I think they should take that into consideration and cover up a bit.
June 22nd, 2011 at 4:21 pm
Thomas, I totally agree with you. The purpose of this post was not to endorse inappropriate wardrobe. Suggestive clothing is indeed a distraction.
June 24th, 2011 at 10:25 am
@Ms. Valerie Johnson: I totally agree with you on the dress code issue. The issue I have is that the teens at my church are willing to change their attire, but we are having a problem with finding stores who sell what is considered an appropriate wardrobe for church. Is there a list of store that supply appropriate clothing for teens? We must remember that their fashion style is under 50.
July 7th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
i think you should try to wear a an appropriate wardrobe for church. Is there a list of store that supply appropriate clothing for teens? We must remember that their fashion but we dont want a crazy fashion show at church. i think churchs will end up having dress codes and everything i hope that won’t happen jus come as you are is the best thing i can say and think of right now.
August 8th, 2011 at 11:21 pm
Why are people not allowed in courts, place of work, or restaurants, with certain outfits and we respect that? Yet when we go to meet the KING of Kings, The Great I AM, LORD of Lords, dress as you please? For non believers come as you are. But if you know you are going to church modesty is important because you are going to praise HIM and not attract attention to yourself.
September 10th, 2011 at 11:15 am
In these trying times considering ones attire is not one that should come up as a priority. When you see me you should be looking at a soul to be saved. Jesus doesn’t bother with such trivia, and neither should we,for our time is limited and it takes all of our times to keep the stones out of our eyes as opposed to looking for stones in others eyes.If you are in God and constantly seeking him, he will provide you and the observers of you the answers you seek as far as dress codes or other matters.The church is to get healed from your sinful ways and leave your sins at the altar, when you leave. If their is any one that is a saint and does not require God’s constant forgiveness and healing, then you need not the healing fountain, which is the church, for this is a place for the worshippers of God and Christ.
November 4th, 2011 at 11:52 am
Febe, the answer is because a judge, boss, or maitre’ d didn’t form us in our mother’s womb, does not know how many hairs are on our head. We are not their ‘poetry’. We are however, God’s. He sees us in every waking moment. We are always before the King of Kings and the Great I Am. We wear suits and nice clothes to your mentioned places because that is what mainstream culture in the West dictates that we do. However, if we need to dress our best before the King of Kings, then we need to dress our best when we go to bed, take a shower, go swimming, because we are always in His presence, not just at church.
November 11th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
1 Timothy 2:9 In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;10: But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.
January 13th, 2012 at 10:53 am
I wear pants to Mass and what are you going to do about it