Should there be a dress code in Church?

I thought it kinda peculiar that you would end your paragraph with that sentence after lamenting so about how little say the preacher has in setting the rules of the congregation/church. I guess this subject is one of the many reasons I appreciate my Independent Baptist church so much. We all believe that our pastor is our under-shepherd, who heard the call of our Lord to preach the Word of God. He has the authority, and alas, the responsibility of setting the standards that we are to follow. He does this "according to the final authority of the Scriptures." Yes, we have a dress code that all members are happy to abide by. No, we don't kick visitors out the door if they don't dress by that code. They are welcome in any condition, in any attire, within reason, as long as they hear the Word of God preached. If they accept Jesus as their Savior we leave it up to the Holy Spirit to convict them of the way they should dress. But just because a male is sitting in the congregation with an earring in his ear doesn't mean that the preacher won't preach against that. Everyone knows where he stands on dress before they come to join the church. We do enforce the dress code when going into public as a church group. We understand that we represent our church and that the lost are always watching. And let me tell ya', there is not a better feeling than to go out with other church groups and be recognized by the public as being from a church after hearing that they couldn't tell the other groups from the unsaved because they dressed all the same. So please, in the future, when you want to speak for all Baptists, please put the word "compromising" or "Southern" in front of it.

 

Well, brother, when I speak of authority of Scripture I mean just that. The Scripture does not posit authority in one individual who claims to be a special, different kind of Christian, superior to all others because he claims he has received a call from God that cannot be verified. A true Baptist pastor preaches the word, period. He doesn't add to it nor take away from it. That's what I mean by a true, Baptist pastor. He shepherds a real congregation, not a bunch of brain-dead zombies who "Amen" whatever the preacher says, like some Muslim Immim. Spent many, many years in the IFB movement where so-called "men of God" preached everything but the Bible. (To my shame, I was one of them.) The Bible was just a visual effect; we loved to wave it around. We'd take a little piece of a verse out of context and preach an hour on our own opinions, claiming that was a biblical sermon. The congregation was supposed to shut up and obey. Nothing is further from what a true Baptist church is supposed to be.

 

Amen
As Jim said, the heart is the most important.
You know what,I have been over 10 years in a very strict church which said that women should only wear dresses, even at the job place, and even at home.... And you know what? Those christian people were looking perfect but they were not even born again. They even did not know what it does mean "Jesus died for me on the cross, for my salvation". You know why? Because only laws, rules and codes were preaching and never JESUS. After 10 years, when Jesus revealed everything he did for me, why he died on the cross, i immediatly left this church. Because they taught me how TO LOOK LIKE a christian but never HOW TO BE a christian. We must pay attention to that. Asking people to be dressed like this or like that whereas they are not christian inside is a big mistake. Jesus first and everything else will come naturally....

 

an easy question deserves an easier awnser. YES! just like anywhere else you go. You have a dress code at work, when you play golf, when you go to a nice restaraunt, school, just about anywhere you go you have a dress code. why should church be any different? And i belive that it should be up to the pastor to decide what is apporiote and modest and not the member which is wearing it. What ever my pastor says goes... in "MY" book!!!!

GOD BLESS AMERICA