Millennial Missionaries Use Fashion for Fellowship

Natalie Hill sits on a bench just beyond Georgetown University’s front gates. Dressed in black skinny jeans, a loose-fitting tee shirt and thick-rimmed tortoise shell glasses, Hill mirrors your typical millennial hipster. A tattoo of a deer peeps out from beneath her sleeve, and her nails are painted a mellow taupe. At first glance, she doesn’t look like an ordained reverend.

Hill, who is in her late twenties, is one of four young, stylish missionaries who form the full-time staff for D.C. Chi Alpha, a college-based ministry affiliated with the Assemblies of God. Campus ministers, especially those of High-Church traditions like Catholicism or Episcopalianism, are typically recognized on campus by their collars and black ensembles. Hill says her relaxed style provides a platform to express her creativity and connect with college students.

“I feel like we have to combine multiple worlds because we work in campus ministry, so I want to be relevant style wise,” says Hill. “I also want to relate to my students, and I feel like a college campus is really where the trends happen, that’s the trendiest place.”

D.C. Chi Alpha is a different brand of ministry, one in which the dress code is business casual at-most and the aesthetic is folk-lite. Hill and the rest of the staff — D.C. Chi Alpha Director Reverend Blane Young and Associate Missionaries Alexis Staubel and Jolene Carter — don’t outwardly resemble ministers. Instead, these four missionaries integrate their faith and fashion choices, using style to relate to college students and set themselves apart.  

Putting the Right Foot Forward

D.C. Chi Alpha missionaries are focused on spreading the Christian faith to college students, but they recognize that image can augment, or detract from, their message.

“I’ve found as I’ve worked here longer, how you dress also demands respect from co-workers and then from university people,” says Hill. “I feel like I’ve tried to dress a little bit more my age, and also dress a little bit more professionally so I’m taken seriously.”

 While college students are Chi Alpha’s primary focus, the staff also spends their time with campus chaplains and the greater Assemblies of God community. Young, who describes his personal style as “casual, intentional, layered and semi-hipster,” believes it is important, although difficult, to strike a balance when dressing to respect all three communities.

“I guess both here at Georgetown and [American University] where I’m an affiliated minister or chaplain, I’m also aware that my colleagues are often older, less tattooed, a bit more formal in their attire. Maybe that’s where intentional choices come in to play,” explains Young.

The challenge is balancing those respectful, intentional choices with a desire to assert one’s style, especially when that style defies normative Christian ideals. Staubel wants to redefine gender expectations and ideas of modesty through her edgy and androgenous fashion choices.

“I think that Scripture speaks hardly anything to what specifically women should wear at all,” says Staubel. “I think that if people see me wearing high-waisted jeans and a crop top while I’m MC-ing a service, I don’t think that’s the end of the world.”

All four D.C. Chi Alpha staff members acknowledge the potential effects of their fashion decisions, appearances and tattoos on their abilities to appeal to donors and influential church communities.

“Sometimes when I am doing something or going into a meeting with someone who may be above me, like someone at AU, I will dress up a little bit more, try and make myself look older, and assert my dominance a bit with my wardrobe,” says Carter, whose personal style is intentionally informal. 

Jesus Had Tattoos, Too  

 Stylistic preferences change with the seasons, and D.C. Chi Alpha’s lax dress code enables its staff to cater their outfits to their daily audience; yet, all four missionaries possess several indelible accessories: tattoos. 

Hill has four, Young has three, and Carter and Staubel each have two. Traditionally, devout Christians have pointed to the book of Leviticus as evidence that people of faith should not have tattoos, but Young asserts that the Bible can’t be read purely through a modern perspective. Leviticus, he jokes, is not the only scriptural reference to tattoos.   

“I would bring up the verse in Revelation that says that Jesus comes with his name written on his thigh, says Young. I always point out to my UVA Chi Alpha friends, it doesn’t say ‘on his shorts, on his thigh.’ It says ‘on his thigh,’ so Jesus has a tattoo. At least, that’d be my tongue and cheek interpretation.”

For Hill, her tattoos — a dandelion, a deer, some birds, and a pencil drawing of her late dog, Nora — provide additional means of expressing her individual style, her faith and her love for her family. 

“I feel like for me I’m using tattoos to remind myself of who [God] is and to make that statement boldly, on top of being a creative outlet and liking the style of it,” says Hill. “As ministers, there are a lot of things we can’t do and have to be more conservative on and reserved about.  We don’t drink, all that. I just feel like [tattoos] feel like the one somewhat-acceptable thing to be edgy on.”  

Beside personal expression, tattoos also spark dialogue. For Staubel, the red band on her arm, which was inspired by the Song of Solomon, provides opportunities for her to share her faith with others. 

“I understand that I did not need to get a tattoo, but for me that was my way of expressing it. And it’s also a sweet way of sharing my faith with people because there’s no way for me to deny why I put it on my body,” explains Staubel.

Worth the Cost 

One setback to a missionary’s stylistic expression is the need to raise financial support to earn a salary. Fundraising hinders when and where missionaries shop and the D.C. Chi Alpha staff agree that it’s difficult to be conscious consumers on a budget.  

“I have a complicated relationship with H&M,” jokes Young, referring to the ongoing debate over the ethics and sustainability of fast-fashion brands.

Hill, Staubel and Carter also express gripes with H&M, but claim its affordability cements its appeal. Yet, the three also find ways to circumvent fast fashion, namely thrift shopping.

“At this point, I’m proud to say that over half my closet is either thrifted or hand-me-downs,” says Staubel, a burgeoning smile on her face.  

Chi Alpha missionaries believe one clothing item is worth a higher price: a great pair of jeans.

 “Jeans is one thing that I will invest in because I wear them frequently, and I can wear them to work whereas other people who work in offices can’t wear jeans,” says Hill, after excitedly describing the two pairs of Lucky Brand jeans she scored at an outlet. “In D.C. I walk a lot, so I feel like I wear them out; they get holes in bad places.”

Young, a loyalist to Levi’s and American Eagle, claims that jeans are an integral component of D.C. Chi Alpha’s uniform. 

“I don’t wear shorts often,” says Young. “I think at fall retreat I baptized somebody in jeans, but then it was too wet to drive back so I had to have them cut off the bottom part of the legs, which is a very hipster move.”

Within the national Chi Alpha community, D.C.’s chapter is notorious for its hipster aesthetic, but these four missionaries don’t mind the label. Their similar styles reflect their bond and their roots in the D.C. community, which they are proud to showcase. 

“Our Chi Alpha is specifically known for that [style], so when we go to Chi Alpha conferences everyone is like, ‘Oh the D.C. team is here!’,” laughs Carter. “We walk in and we’re dressed all D.C. hipster-like. People notice it, and it’s funny.”