Brother's Witness Through Dress

[TeleBodyofChrist]

I am curious what you all think of the responsibility of a brother's witness through apparel.

In the plain circles I have traveled in there has been a movement it seems for brothers to blend in with culture. What I mean by that is, sister's wear the cape dress and coverings yet the brother's can not be distinguished from anyone else. Yes, they wear button downs and what not but so does everyone else. There is nothing in their appearance to identify them, and because of this women are often the only ones who are asked about their faith in public having the opportunity to witness.

Is it something on a subconscious level to make it easy for them to work among the world and earn a living? Is this even thought about?

Forgive my lack of knowledge on this but I just want to know some thoughts on this.

[Josh]

I am curious what you all think of the responsibility of a brother's witness through apparel.

In the plain circles I have traveled in there has been a movement it seems for brothers to blend in with culture. What I mean by that is, sister's wear the cape dress and coverings yet the brother's can not be distinguished from anyone else. Yes, they wear button downs and what not but so does everyone else. There is nothing in their appearance to identify them, and because of this women are often the only ones who are asked about their faith in public having the opportunity to witness.

I agree that this is foolish. Twice in the last month I ran into plain people in airport, one of them from my own group. I could easily identify the sister, but had no idea who her husband was. The one from my own group I greeted and got introduced to her husband. It's a bit less awkward since we are both in the same group of churches. In our group we still do consistently wear the beard and usually have the same hairstyle, so she quickly recognised me, but I doubt any outsider could have figured out her husband and I are from the same church group.

A week later, there was an obviously plain woman with her baby in an airport. But I could not for the life of figure out who her husband was. I decided it was just too awkward to bother to go and greet her and definitely too awkward to take a random stab at guessing who her husband is.

Is it something on a subconscious level to make it easy for them to work among the world and earn a living? Is this even thought about?

No, it's not. In our modern world, wearing suspenders and a plain solid shirt won't impede someone's job prospects, and half the time isn't visible anyway. Amish people have no trouble securing employment. Neither do German Baptist people who still wear broadfalls.

Now, with that said, speaking as a formerly worldly person, even the slightest bit of nonconformity is pretty unpleasant. I used to not wear a moustache when I was part of an Anabaptist group where many men still did that. I got remarks from my relatives about it on a fairly regular basis and it definitely did not lead to people, in general, treating me better.

Forgive my lack of knowledge on this but I just want to know some thoughts on this.

I think it points to just how sad our level of spirituality is across many of our Mennonite churches.

Since the New Conference split with the German Baptists, very few men still wear broadfalls, and that change has happened in the last eight years. Clearly there is a strong desire amongst our men not to look visibly different, even whilst we would be aghast if our women started dressing like the world.

[Josh]

In my group (Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, commonly known as Holdeman), we do have a slightly different approach to attire, in the sense our goals are to be modest and to avoid wearing things that are "highly esteemed", and to avoid wearing things that have no purpose other than outward adornment.

For example, Dockers were "highly esteemed" 20 or so years ago, so they were avoided. Nowadays they are not viewed as especially fashionable, so they are allowed. This is largely a judgment call left up to individuals, but there is frequent discussion (at least once a month at Wednesday night Bible study in my church, and then frequently informally at other times when we socialised), so we generally feel on the same page.

In practice, for sisters, we use a standard dress pattern that whilst modest (in my opinion) and plain, has become a bit dated. It is very, very difficult to update such a thing to be modern, and we do not want to transition to buying store bought clothes for sisters. There is really no easy way to have hand made dresses that do not immediately stand out. But with that said, we do avoid overly distinctive attire like the cape dress because we want to be cautious of excessive outward adornment. The patterns for women's veils are as they are for the same reason, trying to be unostentatious and not attention-getting.

[joshuabgood]

In my view the difference in application regarding the attire for women and men, in the intermediate, moderate, and fundamental circles is most likely a variation of sexism and paternalism gone awry.

The ultra's, old orders, and liberals I think are much closer...

[Sudsy]

I am curious what you all think of the responsibility of a brother's witness through apparel.

I believe what scripture points to as our main area of witness has little to do with our apparel. Even for the ladies. Peter points out what should be their main identification - "Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They put their trust in God and accepted the authority of their husbands." And for all of us our witness is best made known by our good deeds, love for one another, putting little value in temporal things, helping the poor and sick, exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit, reacting to suffering and death radically different, turning the other cheek, etc. Most of our identification is in what we do not what we wear. Modesty to me means any form of dress that would not detract from what are our main identifiers.

[Valerie]

I am curious what you all think of the responsibility of a brother's witness through apparel.

In the plain circles I have traveled in there has been a movement it seems for brothers to blend in with culture. What I mean by that is, sister's wear the cape dress and coverings yet the brother's can not be distinguished from anyone else. Yes, they wear button downs and what not but so does everyone else. There is nothing in their appearance to identify them, and because of this women are often the only ones who are asked about their faith in public having the opportunity to witness.

Is it something on a subconscious level to make it easy for them to work among the world and earn a living? Is this even thought about?

Forgive my lack of knowledge on this but I just want to know some thoughts on this.

I didn't realize this was common, but I'm mindful of times I'd be visiting Holmes County OH and see a Mennonite gal (or someone who believed in a 'symbol' on her head and modest clothes, plain dress or similar) with a young man who looked like any other young man (decently dressed young man that is) and it almost gave the appearance a Mennonite girl had snuck off with a guy outside her faith group. Then I learned about this situation.

Too much focus on the externals can lead to focusing on externals- on either sex. The point of Scriptural teaching about modest dress is to be modest- that in itself is not worldly- but I don't see in Scripture that a Christian's clothes was to be their means of witnessing about their faith, even if it can be- it was not taught by the Apostles as a 'tool' for sharing one's faith so i personally don't fault a young man for just being decently dressed, modestly so- but not 'purposely' trying to stand out in hopes to be a witness. I think the fact that a Christian wears decent clean clothes aligns with Scripture teaching- (IMO)

[Valerie]

I am curious what you all think of the responsibility of a brother's witness through apparel.

I believe what scripture points to as our main area of witness has little to do with our apparel. Even for the ladies. Peter points out what should be their main identification - "Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewelry, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. This is how the holy women of old made themselves beautiful. They put their trust in God and accepted the authority of their husbands." And for all of us our witness is best made known by our good deeds, love for one another, putting little value in temporal things, helping the poor and sick, exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit, reacting to suffering and death radically different, turning the other cheek, etc. Most of our identification is in what we do not what we wear. Modesty to me means any form of dress that would not detract from what are our main identifiers.

Amen

[TeleBodyofChrist]

Sudsy and Valerie,

I understand what you are saying however, when I first started going to a MB church one of the reason's I was given for the sisters was that it was modest and a witness. I dressed modestly before going to an Anabaptist church but not a cape dress.

After wearing the cape dress I was approached A LOT by people who wanted to know about the faith. I was raised in the church and was never approached about my faith before. The only difference I could tell was I changed my outfit. So, there is something to this. Plus, it made me feel as if people were always watching me because they were. lol. I blended in before. To be honest it probably made me think more about how I was presenting myself in public.

So then, when I say responsibility of brothers I say it in reference to what I was told for the sisters. If that makes sense.

[Valerie]

Sudsy and Valerie,

I understand what you are saying however, when I first started going to a MB church one of the reason's I was given for the sisters was that it was modest and a witness. I dressed modestly before going to an Anabaptist church but not a cape dress.

After wearing the cape dress I was approached A LOT by people who wanted to know about the faith. I was raised in the church and was never approached about my faith before. The only difference I could tell was I changed my outfit. So, there is something to this. Plus, it made me feel as if people were always watching me because they were. lol. I blended in before. To be honest it probably made me think more about how I was presenting myself in public.

So then, when I say responsibility of brothers I say it in reference to what I was told for the sisters. If that makes sense.

That makes sense, and it does seem like a double standard then, 'in that light'. By making the dress as a form of 'witness' for the faith, I can see how if the men don't stand out, they are not necessarily a 'witness' by their dress. However, going beyond what Scripture says as specifics (cape dress for example) may make people curious- I too get curious as to different religions and why they dress the way they do, what it all means- for example Hindus and their specifics, Jews and their specifics, Muslims have theirs, etc etc- I haven't had the nerve to come out and question them what their particulars mean exactly- BUT going beyond what Scripture says with certain specifics from Anabaptist sect to Anabaptist sect could also bring focus on the fact that the sects within Anabaptism have so many divisions- something I don't like to see a lot of attention drawn to myself-
If the brothers are modestly dressed it should be sufficient Scripturally speaking- going beyond would be somewhat like the Pharisees did- to draw attention to themselves- I guess that is how a lot of Christians see going beyond what Scripture says- as I read the writings of the earliest days of the Church by the early Church fathers- we've gone too far adrift in all these specifics, more focus on the letter of the law than the spirit of the law it seems-
I too changed my style of dress drastically- but people already knew I was a Christian- and to be honest, I feel like my witness before I changed my dress was based on how I 'lived' my Christianity in serving others or caring for others- when I changed to more obvious conservative dress style, it didn't make my witness any more Christ like it seems, I almost felt it became a stumbling block as more people were thinking I was focusing on externals- if that makes sense- I know too many women with beautiful spirits, serving the Lord, who are unaware of specific standards but yet their witness for Christ has drawn unbelievers to the Lord-

[Chris]

I guess I've seen dress a bit different, but witnessing THROUGH dress is merely an attribute, but not the meat.

Plain dress to me represents a woman dying of worldly flesh. That she is willing to drop out of the competition of main stream fashion and style. That she won't be trying to glorify her beauty through accessories, make up, and such. Also that she will not be in competition with her sisters in church over silly clothing, but one in "common wear" and "uniformity". ("tsk tsk, did you see what *insert name* was wearing??") It leaves so much worldly woman baggage at the door.

I don't know if women's minds really understand this -> But as a man, I mean deep down, I could care less what I wear. I never ever am jealous (or never have been) of another man's clothes... In fact, I don't even remember what other guys wear or notice. I remember how engines and plumbing pipes work and such. In fact, I can tell you the gap on my lawnmower's spark plugs and oil type. I sat across from a brother in fellowship meal last week, I remember his face, and his glasses - but seriously, I can't remember one detail about his clothing, shoes, shirt, or pants.

I know women are WAY more detail oriented. My wife sees stuff I'd never in my life see. (really curtains that match a chair - amazing!) She thinks of stuff I'd never in my life think about. Women think more on an emotional level I believe, and men more in logical levels (there is the perfect balance).

So with this, I believe the plain dress is more for the death of her flesh, than to bear witness. The modesty is not to glorify her flesh, but to conceal. The covering covers her glory for her husband only.

Witnessing is always important, and if the dress does it I'm all for it. Should men be dead in the flesh? Absolutely! But for me putting on suspenders and a white shirt would be much more pomp. Putting on my thrift store button down and pants I seriously think nothing about. I'd rather my clothes be thoughtless.

I believe also men witness to each other more through character. I am open to ideas on all this though.