Ministerial dress on sunday nites

Jimmy, it's been a while since I've been in a low-church congregation; but I remember that being common over a decade ago.

In our church a robe is a robe is a robe - no casual robes for Saturday nights .

Joshua

 

Jimmy
as a child I was brought up that when you went to church on sundays you wore what was called, your SUNDAY BEST clothes.This was done as a matter of respect to The Lord.I still to this day follow this teaching, just can't change mate, old habbits die slow.In the northern part of Australia where everybody finnishes a sentence with the letter " A " it is very hot with temp. ranging from 30deg to 45deg cel. in funny talk thats about 120deg fah.Business attire is shoes long socks shorts and a open neck shirt.
Thats normal for church in a med size city.In the outback where the buildings consist of a roof and no walls.if you are lucky you have a timber floor.here its shorts and maybe a shirt or singlet and thongs.Oh I nearly forgot everybody wears a cowboy hat.skin canser is the worst in the world here.
John

 

At every church I have attended, I did not feel constrained to where anything I didn't want to wear or feel like wearing.

Man looks at the outward. God looks at the heart.

 

I been at many different churches with many different dress styles. Our current church The pastor wears a suit and tie through the service.
I been to services where the pastor has wore a polo shirt or haiwiian (sp) shirt. I also been services wher the pastor has wore shorts. That made me feel uncormfortable. I also been to an ABC church where the pastor and staff garbed up in fancy smancy robes (We didn't even stay for the sermon).

I personally believe when entering the house of God we need to do so in a reverent manner. We need to dress our best. That may be a pair of holey jeans and a tshirt for some or 3 piece suit and tie for others. I know God is no respector of persons, But our Lord is holy and needs to be worshiped in a respectful manner.All he ask for is our Best.

Most would not go out to dinner at a 5 star restuarant in just jeans and t shirt, why should we go to church that way? After all, we are there to feed our soul?

God Bless,
Cathy

 

I come from a different generation, where we always dressed prim and proper for church. I have noticed the change over time, when even younger pastors dressed down. I have a tough time adjusting to this, but it is their choice, in my mind. Culture dictates apparel.

I went a step further. I never entered my study at one time without being dressed as I would Sunday morning. Only recently have I used my study dressed for a picnic.

We do gather some strange habits in our lifetime, and sometimes we think it is the only way. Coming from England, in the days when the clergy wore clerical collars,,,,,,the wider the collar, the more evangelical the preacher.......I wear a clergy collar. I also wear a Geneva gown in the pulpit in the morning, but a regular suit at night.

When I first came to Canada, the normal dress for a Baptist minister was tails and mourning trousers. That faded and we went to mourning trousers and a black suit jacket.

My battlecry these days is "Just come to church". Glad to have you here.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Sunday mornings and Sunday Nights--here is what I do. I think about preaching as an Executive business--I am presenting "blueprints" from my company to the prospective clients. Now, no Executive in his right mind would even attempt to present a multi-million dollar contract/deal to his clients while wearing shorts, Polo shirt, socks that come up to the knee, jeans, T-shirt, Hawaiian shirt(God help us, here!). He is going to be dressed in his Executive best.

Coat and tie, comfortable slacks and dress shoes(no loafers) will be worn at all time by the preaching staff. If you don't like that order--start putting your resume' out "bulk mail!"

Preacher man--tighten up! You are God's executive to your people!

Your friend,
Blackbird

 

Coat and tie, comfortable slacks and dress shoes(no loafers) will be worn at all time by the preaching staff.

Better be all wash&wear, if you can't even take them off to get a shower.

 

I wear coat and tie on Sunday mornings. On Sunday Eve, I wear coat and slacks but no tie. Wed evening Bible study/prayer time I typically wear just dockers and a collared shirt. Here in Appalachia, suits and ties make people distrust you. A pastor who wears a coat and tie all the time is considered "High church" and it will be said that he doesn't love the Lord. While that's ridiculous, it does tell us something about the culture. All ministry is done in context. Modesty is key, not acting like a business executive. I'm not a business man; I'm a pastor. Thankfully, I don't have to spend my salary on dressing in an ostentatious way but can use it wisely as the Bible commands.

 

Better explain myself here--that coat and tie is for Sunday wear--although I usually have to starch a fresh dress shirt between morning and evening sometime.

I don't go around during the weekday with coat and tie, though! I know some preacher friends--they golf in coat and tie. Like ole Oliver Douglas on the TV hit, Green Acres--plowing and planting corn with coat and tie.

But I do consider myself God's Executive to my people--and on Sunday's and Wednesdays what they get out of Bible Studies--is what I consider a Multi-million dollar presentation. I want to dress like I have the million in my mind fixin to show them how to get it!!

Your friend,
Blackbird

 

I wear what I want to wear to a four star restaurant.

I wear what I want to wear to a no-star restaurant.

Worship of God doesn't just happen on Sunday. We should stop limiting our "dress for Sunday best" on Sunday. Every day is a day for God.

 

We have a small church and Sunday nights are focused on a very informal teaching time, at which I allow a lot of questions and discussion. I usually wear blue jeans, sneakers and a short-sleeve shirt in the summer and change the shirt to long-sleeves or a sweatshirt in the winter. I am not "God's executive"; I am God's shepherd, whose job it is to teach, guide, comfort, encourage, protect, weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice, etc. I am not selling anything. If they want an executive, then they probably also want something other than the kind of Church I think the Bible teaches we ought to be. My people do not respect me because of what I wear, but because of who I am by God's grace.

Pastor

[ October 26, 2002, 12:34 AM: Message edited by: Pastork ]

 

My, my! Aren't we having a "bad hair" day! I suppose if the shepherd wants to dress on the level of the sheep--go ahead! I was just stressing the point that we should dress appropriatly for the position. It is honorable to dress like I am an executive on Sunday's. I don't dig ditches or empty garbage cans on Sundays--I preach!

 

I think Tom Vols hit the nail square on; culture dictates what is norm.

In England, in my time, farmers often wore suit jacket and waistcoat whilst they worked the fields.

We tend to overdress for some cultures. I started out in 1946 when "men of the cloth" and other professions dressed to the nines, as it were. I never lost that habit.

I was in Georgia one summer, and I was not long doffing my jacket, loosing my collar and rolling up my sleeves.

Another well said that respect is earned, whether we are in nines or coveralls. I admit that I have the problem of adjusting to changing times and cultural differences.

Cheers,

Jim

 

Oh, most holy wear-what-you-should. Sheep don't wear clothes. They wear wool, what grows out of their body and are eventually shaved off for later consumption. In fact, that very wool may be what cloths his shepherd.

 

Blackbird,

I was not having a "bad hair" day, as you so patronizingly put it. I was reacting to the strong statements you made in an earlier post, punctuated by exclamation points, about how we need to dress like "executives" and how (in your latest post) we should not dress "on the level of the sheep". You even implied that anyone on your preaching staff who did not agree with your viewing "preaching as an executive business" and did not "like" your order would be fired. If you think my reaction was strong, then consider first how strong your own statements were. I would also point out that my reaction really had little to do with your preference for a certain style of dress, but rather with your characterization of preaching as an "executive business". I believe that it is the trend of viewing ministry in this manner that is part of what is hurting the church so much. In fact, I find viewing preaching through the lense of the "executive" to be an insult to the pastoral ministry. The "executive business man" may be good at selling his proposals (to stick with your analogy for the moment), but he rarely cares that much about the people he is selling to. For example, he has little problem with threatening to fire people simply because they disagree with him about something.

I would also note that an "executive" may have a problem with "digging ditches" or "emptying garbage cans", but a pastor will will spend his whole life in a ditch full of garbage if that is where the sheep are. An "executive" may see such things as beneath him and never think of "dressing to their level", but a pastor never thinks of himself as better than his sheep. Although he will be humbled by the awesome task to which he has been called, and will respect it, he will never make those of his flock feel as though their "digging ditches" or "emtying garbage cans" is not also a noble calling if done for God's glory.

Pastork

[ October 26, 2002, 03:52 PM: Message edited by: Pastork ]

 

It has been a fun thread. Let's not get nasty and start pulling hairs now.

I really think dress and deportment is a personal thing. Some seem quite natural in a t-shirt whilst others look quie at home in suit.

I would that every man in the pulpit had an English accent like the Apostle Paul, later to be knighted and thusly known as Lord Paul of Tarsus.

I am not comfortable with some of the changes in the modern churches, but I also realize that is ME. I would wear a three-piece towel at a nudist colony.

Cheers.....have fun folks,

Jim

 

Jim,

I agree that dress and deportment is a personal thing, and I would never assume that,because I dress a particular way on sunday evenings, others should do the same. As a matter of fact, I used to wear the same suits on Sunday evening that I wore on Sunday mornings. The reason I began dressing the way I described in an earlier post is that my fellow elders asked me to. We have a church that has a pretty good variety of people, from executives and doctors to farmers and factory workers. For example, we have one man who is the head of the City Engineering Deparment and another man that makes his living working at Taco Bell while his wife works at a cafeteria in a nursing home. The elders all felt that my dressing in jeans,etc., on sunday evenings would make some of the people feel more comfortable. So I submitted to their counsel as I always do.

My reactions to Blackbird really had to do with a certain mentality about ministry that seemed to color pretty strongly his view about how pastors should dress. It is that mentality with which I disagree.

Pastork

 

I dress to match the congregation. If they wear jeans, I wear jeans. I rarely wear a tie on Sunday because no one else does and if I do wear a tie, I don't wear a jacket. I would stick out like a sore thumb if I do. Working with young people for 11 years I got to the point where I was just happy that everything that should be covered was! So come just like you are, but just come.
Please spare me the "set a higher standard" argument. The standard is Jesus and He didn't even wear pants!!!