Does God care where I shop?

When I was a teenager and young adult, disagreeing with a company or retailer meant one thing: boycotting. I continually heard about companies that were unethical, unbiblical, and therefore unworthy of my hard-earned money (like I had a lot in college!). I think the constant stream of boycotting campaigns left me a little cynical and bored with thinking critically about where I shop. Until now.

When I receive emails or blog posts from people telling me about a company's awful practices (whether that be sweatshops or a questionable line of clothing), I sometimes check it out on the Internet to see if it's true, especially when the claims appear so outrageous or off-the-wall (I won't bore you with all the ones that I found to be untrue or misrepresented).

Earlier this week, I got one such email. It was a forward from a coworker who had received it from another source. It said that, "Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister Company's new t-shirt line is sick and perverted." I thought I'd better check this one out because today's girls frequent both of those stores.

I went online to both sites. Found nothing about their t-shirts. Since I didn't find anything online, I decided to take a field trip during lunch to one of our local malls to investigate this email claim. I walked in to A&F and looked around. Most of the stuff I was prepared for—shirts too tight, shorts too short, images too seductive. But no "sick and perverted" t-shirts. I made a quick sweep through the entire store and was about to leave when I found them—in the back, in the darkest corner of the store. Here's just a sampling of the shirts I saw with my own two baby-blues:

• Tie me up, don't tie me down
• All bed no breakfast
• I always end up on top 
• Anyone you can do, I can do better

Now that you've picked your jaw up off of your keyboard....yes, you read those correctly.

Obviously, we would never want any of our teen girls to wear those shirts. And obviously, these shirts would be a springboard for discussion about sexuality and modesty and the need for pure speech. But that's not where this blog post is going.

My question, my struggle goes back to the beginning of my post—boycotting.

Is that the right response? Should believers (and any unbeliever with half a moral conscience) stand up for themselves and vow never to shop at those stores? And more importantly for our discussion, what do we as leaders teach girls to do?

I could say nothing. I could just accept the fact that teen girls will shop where they want to shop, despite the marketing geared at them or the unethical behavior of the store. I could tell the girls that they should just ignore the stuff that's immoral and buy the stuff that covers their backsides (good luck in that store!).

On the other hand, I could walk into my discipleship group on Wednesday night and declare that I think A&F is evil and that I think they shouldn't shop there. The end result? I will have accomplished nothing more than putting up a major wall between my girls and me. They'd label me "out of touch", (sometimes I am) tell me that I "just don't understand," (sometimes I don't) and that "there's nowhere else to shop."

I don't think either extreme is an option. Girls will shop in stores with questionable practices and immodest clothing lines. Even Wal-Mart and Target carry immoral or suggestive items at times. This response, taken to its logical end, would mean that Christians cloister themselves behind a wall and refuse to engage the culture.

Is there a happy medium?

I think it's a matter of helping girls to think for themselves and to process their faith as something that impacts every area of their lives, including where they shop. We as adults need to help girls process why stores like A&F carry items like suggestive t-shirts and other pieces of clothing—because it's provocative; because teens like to push the envelope; because the company wants to push the envelope; because t-shirts like that sell.We need to help girls understand the deeper issues related to that company—sexuality; honoring God, and others; respecting yourself; rebellion; individuality, consumerism, buying strategies.

And we need to discuss with girls how what we buy reflects who we are (and whose we are). We give our approval to a line of clothing, even to a company, with every dollar we spend. I guarantee that if teen girls stopped shopping at A&F because of the company's practices, the company would change its practices.

There may be some major disagreements and a lot of heated discussion, and that's OK. Girls will struggle with this, and that's good. I think authentic spirituality involves struggle. It never involves easy answers. I would rather girls wrestle with these issues in a safe place like the church than when they're standing in a store, trying to decide what to buy.

In the end, girls (and adults) need to understand that God does care about where they shop, just as He cares about every aspect of their lives. He cares about His glory and His renown, not A&F's.

How do engage girls in a discussion about issues such as responsible consumerism?