Comments on: Do You Dress Up For Church?

By: Tim

Tim — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 05:18:44 +0000

I randomly decided to google this question and this came up…

I believe where the Bible remains silent we are given the authority and privelege to make the decision on our own. (PLEASE read Romans 14)

If you feel that dressing up is good for you to put yourself in a mindset that is to glorify God, then you should do it.
However, if you feel the opposite and choose not to bring your “Sunday Best” then that is okay as well.

I personally enjoy wearing jeans, some nice shoes, and a collared shirt. It helps me get prepaired for what I am going to be learning about in the morning, and it’s a good wake up for me to help me get set for my day with God.

As Romans 14 says: “Let us stop passing judgement on another”

By: Tyler

Tyler — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:08:17 +0000

I tend to sway to your side Justin.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:08:05 +0000

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.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Thu, 21 May 2009 21:03:22 +0000

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.

By: iantrevor

iantrevor — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:56:06 +0000

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.

By: Justin K

Justin K — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:19:50 +0000

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.

By: Mike Mahoney

Mike Mahoney — Thu, 21 May 2009 18:04:39 +0000

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.

By: pokinatcha

pokinatcha — Thu, 21 May 2009 17:59:36 +0000

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.

By: Erik

Erik — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 07:32:44 +0000

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)

By: Lee

Lee — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 03:30:33 +0000

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.