Should we dress in our Sunday Best Or in just casual attire for worship service.

1. When you worship in God's house on Sunday mornings, do you wear the very best you have for Him like you were attending a wedding, or do you dress casual and comfortable?

2. Those with adolescents: do you allow your teenagers to worship God in jeans, t-shirts, and flip-flops? Or do you instruct them to dress in their very best?

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Will Shin
Rockville, MD

Sunday Best, even if that is jeans.

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Benjamin P. Glaser
Pittsburgh, PA
Fairmount ARP Church, Sewickley, PA
Candidate Under Care Pittsburgh Theological Seminary & Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary

“If the Church could be aroused to a deeper sense of the glory that awaits her, she would enter with a warmer spirit into the struggles that are before her.”-- J.H. Thornwell

1. There are no "holy clothes" in the NT. James 2.

2. Teenagers should obey their parents authority over what they wear.

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

Though I think God is more concerned about our heart attitude than our clothes, we dress up a little and expect our children to do the same. However, what is "dressed up" in our Western Society now is nothing like it was when I was a child. What we used to call casual dress is now considered dressy.

I remember worshipping in a church in the French countryside where the farmers had to come in their overalls (from milking cows, etc.) in order to make it to worship on time. Nobody was really bothered by that, because they maintained a worshipful attitude.

While dress can be an indication of our heart attitude, some people don't own nice clothes, especially in my community. To get dressed up for them is putting on their best jeans, best pair of sandals and best T-shirt. If we get too worried about what people are wearing, we are starting to fall into the category of "outward appearances".

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J Baldwin
Keowee Presbyterian Church, PCA
Pickens, SC
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Luke 10:27

Check Out My Blog: http://reflectjoy.blogspot.com/

We should do our "best" in every thing and at all times. 1 Cor. 10:31. However, it becomes dangerous when we take things indifferent (i.e. not addressed by Scripture), and make our "best" be the standard and measure by which everyone else's should be determined.

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Daddy
Member of TRBC, Attending CCRPC. My Blog
The Puritan Pub (Team Blog)
Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

Where I'm at currently, "dressing up" for chapel service means wearing ACUs rather than PTs. When I'm back in the States, I wear a suit and tie. I don't look down on anyone else for being less formally or more casually dressed; but it is my preference.

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Sean P.M. McDonald
Communicant Member of Springs Reformed Church (RPCNA), Colorado Springs, CO
Infantryman, 10th Mountain Division, Fort Drum, NY (Deployed to Iraq)
Engaged to Laura A. Doman of Grand Rapids, MI
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"Lex praescribit, evangelium inscribit." (The law prescribes, the gospel inscribes.)

Wear fitting attire for an appointment with the King of the universe.

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Bruce
PCUSA
Ocean City NJ

I also want to make a qualification, I'd think it would be within the power of the Elders to address any attire that may serve as a great distraction from the Worship of God.

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Daddy
Member of TRBC, Attending CCRPC. My Blog
The Puritan Pub (Team Blog)
Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

I used to never wear a shirt and tie to church...I did that all week at work. I wore (still do) dress pants and a button down...if Sunday is a day of rest,that is one way I do.

I occassionally wear a suit/sport coat...but only when I'm scheduled to be an usher. I'm not opposed to dressing up...I just need new suits to kill the memory of a job I was blessed to have for 2 years (but hated).

That is why have a stapler handy for any teens who show up with their underwear showing because their pants are too baggy.

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http://www.villagecommunitychurch.org/

before Josh chimes in...I must correct something...I said I used to never wear a shirt and tie...I did always wear a shirt upon reflection

BTW, if Purpose Driven has taught us anything it is that if we wear something other than a Hawaiian shirt, then we are too stuffy.

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http://www.villagecommunitychurch.org/

What makes you think I'd have said anything, Craig?

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Daddy
Member of TRBC, Attending CCRPC. My Blog
The Puritan Pub (Team Blog)
Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

What would you wear if you were invited to the King/Queen Throne Room of England? Or What would you wear if you were invited to Meet the President of the United States? Your very best formal clothing! Now what should you wear to worship and meet with the King of the Universe? It should be your finest and Best Formal Clothing... We are after all entering into the Throne Room of God.

So I wear my best suit and tie..

My child and future children will do the same.. They should not be allowed to dress casual or in any way they want to come to the Throne of Grace... Education of this will start at the youngest age so there will be less of a problem with this when they get older... "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart".

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Michael Daniels
Reformed, RPCNA
Denton, Maryland

[i][b]As For Me And My House, We Will Serve The Lord[/i][/b]

[SIZE="1"][I][FONT="Century Gothic"]Unum Deum in Trinitate: Pater, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus [RIGHT]Sola scriptura - Sola gratia - Sola fide - Solus Christus - Soli Deo gloria - Solum psalterium - Lex talionis[/RIGHT][/FONT][/I][/SIZE]

Our church is casual with only one person who would be found wearing a suit, and that is not the pastor. People feel comfortable as they can come as they are. In some other churches the dress code is more akin to Royal Ascot than church. The Reformers threw off "holy vestments," albeit for the clergy. The only attire I see are the robes of Christ's righteousness.

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Stuart
Elder, Lambeg Baptist, Northern Ireland, UK

In Him the fulness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form and in Him you are complete (Col 2.9-10)

The sacrifice of a broken heart doth please Him but the sacrifice of a broken Christ alone doth satisfy Him (Richard Steele)

BTW, "Hello" to "Jambo"!

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http://www.villagecommunitychurch.org/

Depends on the culture my friends. Pastoring in rural TN, I have poor people who come to my church that don't even own a suit and tie. And I don't expect them to go out and buy one either.

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Ryan Barnhart - Pastor of OGBC
Husband to a beautiful wife, Father to two beautiful girls
"But by the grace of God I am what I am." I Corinthians 15:10

"I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by Cannibals or by worms. And in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen Redeemer." - John Paton

Don't misunderstand me, I'm all for folks dressing up and wearing their best. However, their best may not be what you think it ought to be. What of the poor who have no shirt and tie? Will the Church provide such at the door?

As for the allusions to the King/Queen, etc., I wonder if you think God really cares about the new suit you're wearing? Undoubtedly, God wants one to give his best to the Glory of God; however, I highly doubt it's determined by what's worn on the outside. He looks not at outward appearances like the King/Queen/President. He looks at the heart.

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Josh Hicks, Chloë's Daddy
Member of TRBC, Attending CCRPC. My Blog
The Puritan Pub (Team Blog)
Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

I would just say one's best, whatever that is. You'd wear your best going to meet the President. But if you don't have a suit, the President would not fault you for not having something formal.

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Rev. Lane Keister
Teaching Elder, PCA, North Dakota (working out of bounds in a CRC and an RCA church)
http://greenbaggins.wordpress.com
http://brahmsgreenglove.blogspot.com
http://accenttranslation.blogspot.com
Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

In the past I thought this way, so I definitely understand your view on church attire. I've shifted my view somewhat because whereas a king or queen, being human, is impressed or unimpressed by clothing, such things are essentially meaningless to God. I can't really find anything in the Bible that would sway me either toward casual or "Sunday best" for church. It seems that we should dress and act in a way that would be a positive witness for Christ, but otherwise I think this is an area of Christian liberty.

It's also cultural to a very large degree. In the South people dress up much more than in the West and Northeast (West is the most casual, New York is somewhere in between).

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Mason
Member, Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA)
New York, NY

"Come now, and let us reason together," says the Lord, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool." - Isaiah 1:18

I agree that one's best would be determined by culture but the principle remains the same....

By the way, we have a Church thrift store around here that sell clothing that people donate.. My wife found me a whole suit in the best condition in my size and only paid $3.00 for it...

Most other clothing cost anywhere between 50 cents to $1.50 and they ain't no rags....

So a poor person can afford nice clothing and afford suits and ties....

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Michael Daniels
Reformed, RPCNA
Denton, Maryland

[i][b]As For Me And My House, We Will Serve The Lord[/i][/b]

[SIZE="1"][I][FONT="Century Gothic"]Unum Deum in Trinitate: Pater, Filius, et Spiritus Sanctus [RIGHT]Sola scriptura - Sola gratia - Sola fide - Solus Christus - Soli Deo gloria - Solum psalterium - Lex talionis[/RIGHT][/FONT][/I][/SIZE]

Hopefully, you show on the outside what lives in the heart...

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Bert Mulder
Elder of the First Protestant Reformed Church of Edmonton
Edmonton Alberta Canada

I attend suited and booted.

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Richard
CofE
UK