God cares primarily about the heart, not our outward adornment. God doesn't care if we wear a tie or jeans. I'm really glad that every Sunday we have people who wear jeans and people who dress up more. What is important is the gospel. Clothing doesn't make us acceptable to God, the blood of Jesus and his righteousness does. If the Lord accepts us on the basis of the blood and merits of Christ, we should too. The more different kinds of people, dress and looks we have, the more likely we are to attract a wide variety of people to hear the gospel. As long as we don't sin, we want to be all things to all people to win as many as we can. If I can win more people wearing jeans, I will.

We certainly want to encourage modesty. But if it were someone's first Sunday and they were dressed somewhat immodestly, I would care more that they hear the gospel and experience the acceptance and love of the Lord through us. We could address the modesty issue at a later date. People need to be taught to consider others, not to tempt anyone, etc. But they need the gospel first and foremost.

Hope these comments are helpful. Thanks again for commenting!

I can see potentially a problem in which Christians might say "ok, you were unsaved, so we welcomed you and excused the orange hair back then. But your a Christian now, so you need to look like us" . This could quickly spiral downwards as well, into a "you can't honor God without a tie on" mentality.

Clean clothes, and modesty is of course encouraged. We don't want guys stumbling because an outfit is too revealing. But I know churches that will not allow you to come in unless you have a suit/tie or head-covering on. Some even go as far as to make you sit at the back until you "prove" you are really saved. I think that sort of discretion is wise when selecting elders and other leaders in the church, but for someone just coming in?

Wow, that's a moving and challenging story about the homeless guy. I know that I could only reach out to a guy like that by the grace of Christ. Thanks – I needed to hear that.

They looked past the skin tight shirts and short-short skirts, black hair and spiky heels to the hurting girl inside who was just longing to hear the gospel (though I didn’t see that at the time).

I thought they would reject me, as I had seen other churches do, because of my appearance, attitude and coldness to their message. I was shocked when they didn’t. That experience (which lasted for nearly 2 years!) really showed me the kindness of God, which in turn led me to repentance. I praise God for this. Thanks for this post… and for reminding me of God’s goodness to me!

Very insightful comments! Actually our church is very welcoming and warm to all newcomers, both unusual and "normal" ones, and not just the first time they visit. This is only the grace of God upon our church, and we certainly have a long way to go in evangelism and reaching out to others. I really like your comment about caring enough to go to huge lengths to make sure our friends get to see Jesus – excellent! I need to do this and our church can certainly keep growing in this. Thanks for your comments.

What a great saying – I'm saving it for future reference. How we need to see people as "those created in His image for his glory." Thanks for commenting.

What a powerful story. Wow. Thank you for sharing it. It really stirs me.