What to wear to church - a different perspective

In the other thread about Sunday wear - several views have been brought up.

Rev Mitchell stated that the Cowboy culture is different - some cowboys may not even own a suit and tie and ect.

Now lets look at this perspective.
Several years ago, I had a pastor who was a missionary to Papua New Guinea. He told us that when he first arrived and church services - the ladies would come and - well lets put it this way - they would get a total suntan above the belly button (inny or outy :smilewinkgrin, as that is their culture. Would it have been right for this missionary to demand that those church attenders wear a full dress or blouse?

So does local culture come into play in establishing standards?

Should our missionaries insist on local nationals adopting our standards?

 

This is an Email, I recieved from my friend John, who is an IFB missionary in the South Pacific.
**************************
Bob,


Dress in the bush--a great question.


First, our people have maybe one or two sets of clothing. In general, they have a "nice" shirt (men and ladies, not the kids). On Sunday, they'll wash on their way to church and pull the nice shirt over their daily clothes, which many times are very worn and tattered.


Few ladies in our area come to church topless anymore, but it does happen once in a while. I take my cue from the national pastor on these issues. 99.9% of the time, no one notices. Something we have in every service is mothers breast feeding. Again, nobody notices (except the white people). Our women are modest in that they don't flaunt their bodies; they view feeding their babies as a necessity, and so no one makes a big deal about it. I do notice that as our ladies mature in the faith, they are much more discreet; but no one tells them to do it, it just is a gradual change.


On the preacher's dress out here, we lean to the side of looking sharp but being practical. I hike at least two hours up a mountain every Sunday to get to Ipaiyu Baptist Church. By the time I get there, I'm pretty well soaked with sweat. Needless to say, I don't wear a tie. In fact, I wear hiking sandals (wet, muddy trail), hiking pants, and a breathable shirt. But our entire preaching team (me and the Bible school students) always looks sharp--as sharp as you can look with a wet shirt.


In the cities here, the pastors wear ties and on RARE occasions a suit coat. I usually wear a tie if I'm speaking at a conference; again, I take my cue from the national pastors.


Personally, my take on dress can be summed up like this: Modesty and Distinction. Men and ladies should be modest at all times, and that according to the dictates of Scripture and culture. I would never expect an American woman to feed her baby like our PNG ladies do here in the bush, and our ladies here would not expect our white women to do so. If I served in a Muslim country, my wife would gladly cover herself according to the dictates of their culture (much more covered than we Americans do), though I'm not sure about the vail As to distinction, we train our men to look sharp as they represent the King of kings. In the bush that doesn't mean a tie; it does mean no torn up trousers nor a torn up shirt.


Interestingly, our Kamea tribe has a cultural standard that sets men apart from women. On the occasions that they still wear grass skirts, there is one style for men and another for women, and they never wear the style of the opposite gender...and it has been that way for centuries.

That's my perspective and our policy out here in the jungle. We have very little outside influence still, except for our own work in buying 2nd hand clothes in town and sharing them with our people. On occasion a PNG person will do the same, and sell them in a village market. I'm glad to see that kind of development come.


Blessings,

John

 

(note: I forgot to put "..." in as needed.

Anyways - some of the "casual clothes" I see at church is a modesty issue - but I will address that (eventually in the other thread)

This thread is more about the culture.
As John said in his email - some cultures do not have a problem is modesty (or lack thereof)

 

Just rec another email

Bob,
Saw the post. You can put up my name, blog, and our team website. They are listed below. Hope it helps the discussion.

John Allen Sr. johnallen.ttmk.org
ThatTheyMayKnow.com


Please keep John and Selena in your prayers.
Fellowship Baptist Church in Wildflecken has disbanded (US military moved out) but I would like to think that John is continuing the ministry of FBC!
BTW, there is now a German work in Wildflecken.