Do You Dress Up For Church?
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I think you can put most church’s clothing attire into one of two categories.
- Business casual or professional attire.
- Casual.
The business casual or professional crowd is probably a bit older or maybe from the South, the casual crowd is probably younger or from the west coast.
I’ve been going to church my whole life (my dad has been a pastor since I was born), and I think there is one HUGE barrier to church for non-Christians that never gets talked about: style of clothing.
If you are a typical person around my age, you would probably go to church in jeans and a t-shirt of some sort. Maybe you wear a trendy jacket too. If the church you walk into is full of men in suits and women in dresses my guess is that you won’t be coming back.
If you wear a nice suit to church and all the crowd is in shorts or jeans, my guess is that you probably won’t be coming back.
Think I’m wrong? I doubt I am. Want to know why? Everyone looks the same in churches.
You rarely see a church that is mixed of shorts and suits.
This is what I do not understand. Many Christians believe that on Sunday you need to “dress your best for God.” Where is that in the Bible? I know it is in there…the temples/tabernacles of the Old Testament were built with the utmost detail. Yet I believe there is much Biblical support for those who could careless what you wear to church. John the Baptist is one of most holy men in the Bible, yet he wore animal skins all throughout his ministry. I doubt God valued him less because he didn’t wear a nice Jewish robe during his ministry years.
I believe too many of us are teaching non-Christians, if you can’t look good enough (or trendy enough) to fit in with our church, then you cannot be a Christian.
Is that the heart of most church-goers? Certainly not. But I think that is what is being shouted without being said.
(Creative Chaos @ the Soul.)
i think the bigger the church, the wider the diversity of how people dress up. every mega type church i’ve been to, there’s differences among groups throughout. but churches on the smaller side, that tends to be the case. don’t know about the “not coming back thing.” shrug. as for me, i tend to dress casual. jeans, stylish top or t’…but IF i go, i don’t go sunday morning anyway, more like a night service or function…been that way for years
absolutely not. I personally don’t wear shorts since I’m leading worship but my husband does as an attender. The dressiest I get is a pair of black pants occasionally, but probably 80% of the time I lead in jeans. I wear a skirt some in the summer, but it’s really casual, with a tshirt and flip flops. I own two dresses – for funerals and weddings – and one black power suit, which I also use alot for funerals or when I am in a traditional setting but want to look professional (I haven’t used this in two years). I never can find a pair of pantyhose, which I thank God for. So that one time a year when I need them I have to go buy a new pair. Yea! It’s wonderful!
The only exception to this – for me – is Christmas Eve. I do enjoy dressing up a bit that night. I don’t know why. It’s just like a special occasion I guess.
We purposefully chose to be this way as a church when we planted because we too felt that clothing could be a barrier. My own opinion is that if we have to dress our best for God on Sunday morning we need to dress our best for God 24/7. As long as we’re modest I’m not sure God cares……
I am not sure I could ever go back to a traditiona and formal church…..
And we are- btw – way in the deep South….
Interesting post. For most churches attire has less to do with theology and more to do with demography. There are always churches that fall outside the norm, but for many, if the income is high and people have to dress up during the week, they are ready for a break on the weekend. Shorts, that shirt your boss told you not to wear, shoes that the HR lady would frown about, etc.
For working class churches, where uniforms, jeans and t-shirts are common during the week, they jump on the opportunity to wear their Sunday best. Church, for many people, is the reason you have “nice” clothes. Slacks, ties, jackets, dresses and hats are the way to go.
Ultimately I’m not sure either is correct… they are just reflective of the culture. Middle and upper class churches that dress too fancy are a turn off to my generation… but so would a working class church where no one dressed up. Dressing up shows respect – more respect than you get to show at any other time during the week.
Sorry for the long comment… hey, I may blog this!
Ash- The larger the church, the harder to generalize. But even in mega churches I think there is a majority that is one or the other. If you ever watch video of Osteen’s church it is very dressed up, but if you go to Lifechurch.tv it is very casual.
Jan- Obviously my South reference was a generalization but I still think a truthful one. Many many churches in the South are “suits only” churches.
Steven- Interesting thoughts. Hadn’t thought of if that way before. And I agree, I think they reflect culture not necessarily theology. But at the same time I’m sure there are people out there who believe those who don’t “dress up” for church are less Godly than those who do. What a shame!
Flip flops. Every week.
I was going to say what Steven said. I agree.
I clean up well and I look good in tux. Maybe sometime…..
well, we never wear shorts…
it’s 29 degrees this morning!
I dress up for the ladies.
I wouldn’t doubt it Ross, wouldn’t doubt it.
I grew up where we had to dress up for church. There were no questions about it – you had no choice. So I’ve always had that mindset. However, when I started going to Sunset I was excited to see that there is a mixture & no one is uncomfortable with that. So now I’m comfortable dressing casual – plus I serve in the nursery & it’s much easier to get down on my knees with the toddlers if I’m not wearing a dress. Dressing up is usually uncomfortable & I prefer to relax & put my mind on God and not the clothes I’m in!
I wasn’t arguing about the south at all so please don’t misunderstand me, just letting you know where we are and that we’re casual. In our area, which is more of a city atmosphere, many churches are much more casual than 20 years ago, but most are not as casual as we are. I think your observation is probably correct – in general the south is still more traditional – and in more ways than dress. When I have the opportunity to visit another church on that rare off Sunday I am always a little concerned about what to wear. I went to an ordination service where I was a participant and I had to wear a dress and everyone wanted to know who died. Most of my congregation had never seen me dressed up. So we are a bit different in that we are totally casual.
Tyler,
In everything I have found, this is mainly generational. I have talked to tons of people who were basically taught that one of the ways to honor God was to dress up for Him. A sign of respect. Then a whole generation of people have come who either haven’t been taught that, or just naturally disagree with that whole notion.
Personally, I believe I can honor God in my heart wearing flip flops, though I do have weird feet that might distract others in worship. But seriously, I do recognize that I need to be sensitive to my beliefs on those around people who see dressing up for God at church as natural as the sun rising. I have to find loving ways to let them know I believe God is more interested in their heart than their clothing. I also totally agree with you the message it can send to people who don’t know Christ or anything about the church. Good post Tyler.
Jay
Jan- I totally wasn’t arguing with you either. We’re cool
Jay- Generational, generally. I totally agree.
One point I could make. The Bible talks a lot about taking off our shoes in the temple and such. So maybe we should go to church barefoot.
I do both. It just depends on what I’m in the mood for that day. Somedays it’s dress slacks or a skirt, somdays it’s jeans and flip flops. And I’m on the stage doing worship. I love that freedom in church. I wasn’t raised in it, and I’m eating it up now.
If I remember my Western Civ the idea of dressing up came about to discourage the have nots who were typically very dirty from coal in London from mingling with the haves who were clean and well kept.
Like many things a theology was created to justify it but the result in England was fewer people gathering with the church.
Rachel- I think most people who grew up in the church are used to “dressing up”…but I think that a lot has changed in the last 20 years too as far as dress in church.
Darin- That is a really interesting point man. That certainly doesn’t make a good case for dressing up.
Very nice blog. I really appreciate where you’re coming from. There’s plenty here to give me plenty of food for thought and challenge me too.
I just don’t get the hubbub about what people wear to church. If people want to wear a suit and tie, be my guest or if they prefer to wear worn out jeans and a ratty old shirt, it honestly doesn’t concern me in the least. I personally wear whatever I feel like it. Most of the time, I just wear my jeans and a business casual shirt. Or I just wear what I wear to work (I work at home, so you can imagine what that might mean! hehe). Sometimes though, I feel like wearing something nice, just because and I’ll throw on my nice slacks and even . . . yeah I have been known to wear a tie.
As has been pointed out, there has been times when the church has used “Sunday best” as a way of stratifying the body and identifying the lessers, but I just don’t care one way or another what someone wears. It just seems like the silliest thing to worry about if you ask me.
Very interesting comments to this debate between ‘Sunday best’ and ‘casual approach’.
Seems as if we have some pretty passionate folk within the Church speaking up on this ’sensitive’ subject. I’ve thrown my $.02 into the pot @:
http://kowalkerjourney.com/2008/11/10/do-you-dress-up-for-church/
I’m really digging your site. Keep up the insightful posts!
- Erik, from your backyard (Gresham, OR)
Living on an island and in a church that meets in a tent, we tend to wear Aloha attire at our church, the kids run around barefoot and in surf shorts. For the most part people aren’t wearing their ragged shorts and shirts. If you showed up in a suit @ my church you’d probably sweat to death and feel way out of place for sure. But your more than welcomed to come as you are.
What is interesting to me is that many Caribbean areas have similar weather to Hawaii yet they encourage a very conservative dress, unlike most Hawaiian churches.
Intersting thoughts…
My church is in one of the poorest cities in one of the wealthiest counties in the country. So there is a quite a swing of church types and sizes. Steven has it backwards in my experience. Around here, the larger, more affuent churches tend to be more casual, while the smaller, poorer, inner city churches are the ones where worshippers wear their “Sunday Best.”
Our church is a mix. There is no “dress code” per se. Most of the people come in causal clothes – dockers or jeans, button down, polo or nice tee for men, comfortable wear for women. You will see sport coats and you will see ties and you will see dresses. You will not see much in the way of shorts.
On the platform is a differnt matter. Our church came from very conservative roots, and some of that carries over. On the platform it’s a business casual kind of thing. Usually I wear a shirt and tie and slacks, and a coat in the winter.
I don’t think either “level” of dress stands out either way. Certainly most men should not be self-conscious wearing a tie or sport coat, especually if there are others who do as well. (BTW, I wear polos or open-collar shirts and Dickey’s at work, not a tie.)
On non-Sunday mornings (we have occaisional Sunday night services) jeans are ok on the platform.
We have a new pastor coming in in July. It’ll be interesting to see if anything changes.
It is interesting how dress code is not determined by the community but rather the head honcho. Not sure that is a great thing, yet it is a common reality.
I hate dressing up for church….the argument stands as “show God your best” bahhahaha- are you kidding me? God knows me inside and out completely- my best, my worst- who cares what I wear…That’s what I think. I do because it is expected of me. but I am most comfortable and worship (better) when I am myself am comfortable. Jeans and t-shirts…and maybe a trendy jacket.
I tend to sway to your side Justin.
I come from an incredibly conservative church background so I’ve worshiped with a group that had a printed-in-the-bulletin dress code but, thankfully, we’re no longer at that church. Now, in this less conservative group, there’s a wide range of attire. Some of our elders wear suits and ties, while most of the youth wear t-shirts, jeans and shorts. Me, if I get to serve, I choose not to wear jeans but I wouldn’t be frowned upon (too much) if I did. I’ve been working on our minister to get him to wear flip-flops during his message, but I haven’t yet broken him down.