You’ve never been to church before. You are in Manchester. And you decide to try out Manchester Lutheran Church.

At that point, some people panic a bit, because they start worrying about what they should wear.

The headline answer is this: Wear your normal clothes. There is no dress code.

But by saying that, I don’t want to dismiss your concern! We often worry about what to wear in a new place because we don’t know what to expect or what people will think about us.

That’s a perfectly natural human concern. And church is full of other people who wake up with those same concerns every day as well.

At Manchester Lutheran Church, most people dress very casually.

The pastor usually dresses smartly, with a dog collar. That is simply because he is there to serve as the pastor, and that’s something a lot of people instantly recognise as familiar, even if they’ve never been to church before.

But the point of church is not what we wear. It is what God says.

We gather around God’s Word to receive his forgiveness in Jesus.

The Bible tells us that, in Jesus, God himself became man. And this is how the prophet Isaiah describes he looked:

He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. (Isaiah 53:2)

Nobody will be inspecting you. You do not need to buy anything special or make yourself look religious before you come.

We invite you to come to Manchester Lutheran Church without worrying about how you look, as we gather together to receive the grace of God who did not come to impress us with outward appearances, but to save us through Jesus.

You can join us in person in Manchester every Sunday. Check out this link for service details: https://manchesterlutheran.church/sundays/

Or, if you’re outside Manchester, join us online from anywhere every Wednesday for the Confessional Lutheran Church online service.