Your clothing offers a simple way to communicate your interests and connections to others. Even if you’re not making a conscious effort to do so, you send nonverbal clues to those around you with your clothing choices, clues that identify your connections.
Whether you’re wearing your favorite band’s shirt or the jersey of your favorite football player, your clothing tells others who you are or who or what you respect. And now Christians can wear shirts from Christian clothing brands that reflect their connection to Christ in a unique and personal way.
This post explains that what you wear matters if you want to share your identity, but more importantly, share Christ with others. So if you want to identify yourself as ambassador of the gospel and of God’s love, read on to understand how something as simple as a shirt can break down barriers so that you can share the message of Jesus with others.
How Christian Clothing Connects to Others
You don’t have to speak a word. Your clothing can say a lot about you, and this concept isn’t new. Whether you support a political movement or a local college sports team, you can reflect that with your wardrobe and show everyone you pass by a little something about you. You show others what group you belong to and what ideals you connect with.
A sense of belonging, a sense of place, is important to everyone, and Christians understand the eternal value of being a part of a group of believers, a part of God’s family. So Christian apparel allows you to proclaim your connection to Christ so that you can connect to others, others who have questions or are longing to be part of your group but sit on the sidelines.
Everybody enjoys belonging to a group, and clothing allows people to become a part of something just by what they wear. From style aesthetics to sports teams, clothing helps carve out the difference between a VSCO girl and Y2k aesthetic as well as the difference between the winners and losers of the SuperBowl.
Most groups that have a following have a uniform look, and it serves a purpose. From specific colors to brands and mascots, you can usually spot specific sports fans simply by glancing at their clothes. In fact, for sports teams, this gear is called spirit wear because its purpose is to get you excited about your team. When you wear it, it determines what side of the football field you sit on, when you cheer and when you groan, and it creates a connection to fellow fans all around you.
After you graduate from college, you may still have that spirit wear, but you can also wear all the alumni gear. This clothing doesn’t just show others where you went to college, but it also reminds you of where you came from and the journey you went through to be who you are today. You connect to an even bigger group of people now and have an even greater story to share.
Christians now have access to the same concept. With Christian apparel, you now have a wardrobe that gets you excited about God and what He has done in your life. Your clothes can remind you of who you belong to and where you came from. You have a greater story to share than one that describes the last-second shot in a championship game. You can share the greatest story ever told of God’s love and help connect others to Him.
Faith makes a person whole, but your fashion can proclaim the amazing message God wants you to share. As an ambassador for Christ, you can now wear clothes that reflect their identity in Christ, show others that you love, respect, and belong to God, and make it clear that you’re willing to share His great gospel message.
Sharing Christ with Others Through Your Christian Clothing
To speak to others about God can be overwhelming. You might find yourself feeling more like a salesperson and less like a, well, person. But the gospel message isn’t about selling some idea—it’s about sharing with others what Christ has done and is doing for you.
As a Christian, you understand your daily need for God. You know that the work God started in your life didn’t end at the cross. In fact, the Bible points out that God “will continue his work until it is finally finished” (Philippians 1:6). Christian apparel allows you to break down barriers and start a conversation with others about the work God is doing right now in your life.
People need God, and when you acknowledge your need for God you’re not just an ambassador for Christ but also an ambassador of hope. The world is filled with messages of self-reliance, but people need the loving arms of Jesus to shelter them through whatever storm they are going through. Your clothing shows that you trust and depend on God. Just like a sports fan may see you wearing a jersey and ask if you saw the game last night, someone who sees your Christian clothing might ask you what God is all about.
Your Christian apparel serves, not as a neon sign flashing your holiness, but to show others that you need God every day and aren’t ashamed to show it. Just like in Romans 1:16 when Paul proclaims that he isn’t ashamed of the gospel of Christ, Christians, too, understand that the gospel is salvation and shouldn’t be ashamed to talk about it. In fact, Christians should be eager to share this powerful message.
Your Christian clothing gives you an opportunity to connect others to Christ by sharing your personal story, showing them that God is real in your life every day and that you rely on Him every day. If you wanted or needed a way to break down barriers so you could more easily talk about the gospel with others, say it through clothing.