• FILE PICTURE: MANY church goers today are influenced by worldly fashion and this includes scanty dressing.

By STEPHANIE KUNDA –
INDECENT dress and provocative dancing (twerking) in churches must be stopped, National Guidance and Religious Affairs Minister Godfridah Sumaili has said.
The minister said in an interview that the trend is unholy, particularly in a country like Zambia with Christian values.
Reverend Sumaili said indecent dressing and provocative dancing were a growing and worrying trend in many churches and that it was a sight viewed as displeasing before God, particularly during Sunday services.
Rev Sumaili said God should be honoured and respected during prayers.
“Dance with strength for the glory of God. Don’t begin to dance as if you are dancing in a bar. Calling ourselves a Christian Nation means we have to be Christ-like,” Rev Sumaili said.
“God is looking for worshippers who will worship in spirit and truth. We have to present ourselves in an honouring manner and should not be offensive to him and other worshipers in how we worship.”
Rev Sumaili said it was not right the way some worshipers dressed, particularly females, as the way one dressed mattered in God’s eyes, and that a dress code was also a form of worship and respect to the Creator.
The minister said that some praise teams did not dress in an acceptable manner and that one should not attract attention to themselves.
Rev Sumaili said Zambians were a blessed people and so they needed to dress in a decent and respectable fashion.
She also said it was wonderful to praise God, but some worshipers did it with a dance that was sexually provocative.
Rev Sumaili said all values should be recognised such as constitutional, cultural and religious ones and that dressing culturally was to be done in the country.
She urged parents, particularly mothers, to ensure they taught their children, especially girls, how to dress in public gatherings.