As I stood in my closet yesterday morning at 530am looking at all my cute summer tops (it’s STILL too cold to wear any of them) and trying to decide WHAT to wear as I led worship that morning, my mind began to wander towards summertime. Warm weather, evenings on the patio, then my mind went back to church… I don’t know about you,but in the summer our church gets HOT. By the second service the worship team is usually pretty sweaty. So I started thinking of cute outfits that would keep me from melting and God whispered… but are they Worship appropriate? Hmmmm… what is and isn’t OK for women to wear on stage while leading worship?
When I lived in Santa Cruz about 10 years ago, most of church was young and good looking REALLY good looking. The first time I took my husband with me to visit he deemed it “church of the pretty people”. LOL Anyway, I remember a conversation one night with a few friends and one of the guys telling us “hey, some of the stuff you girls wear can be distracting for us”… “REALLY?” I’m not talking club clothing. But things like spaghetti straps, off the shoulder tops, shorter skirts, things that are maybe a little TOO clingy, etc. It was kind of shocking to have our Christian brothers be honest with us. But at the same time it was refreshing, and I was thankful that they were comfortable to enough to say “hey, this is an issue for us”. The truth is that men are visual, and men struggle. All of them. We girls were pretty clueless, we just thought we looked “cute”. It was the first time my eyes had been opened to the thought that what I wore on stage and how it might effect my message of focusing on Jesus…. and it has always stuck with me. I’ve been in several church worship ministries since then. Some with and some without “dress codes”. But I think all churches should have one. I don’t think they should all be the same, but I think guidelines are a good idea. Why? Because I know I wasn’t the only 20-something without a clue. I know there are other ladies out there thinking “wow I never thought of it that way”. Because I know sexual sins, addiction and pornography run rampant in our churches today, and church shouldn’t be a place where our brothers need to worry about these things. Romans 14:13 says “Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister.” We are so blessed to be able to take to the stage and lead God’s people into a state of worship through song. I personally don’t want to be responsible for leading someone’s thoughts astray or causing them to struggle with a personal sin because of something I’m wearing.
So as you are getting dressed this summer and ready to take the stage, take a look in the mirror. There is NOTHING wrong with a stylish outfit, a cute top and some good shoes 🙂 BUT make sure at the end of it all you are still saying “Look at God!” and not “Look at me”.
mybeautifulcollision 
great post! Thanks!