Should Pastors wear clerical attire?

In the States we always wore a clergy collar.  When we got up in the morning we put on black pants, black clergy shirt, white collar, black socks, black shoes and our normal white underwear. We reminded ourselves of our status as His servants by putting on the attire that proclaims for all to see that God is still working in this world through the ministers of His Gospel. Clerical clothes should be a badge of service, not honor.

The vast majority of Protestant ministers do not wear clergy collars because those funny looking white tabs or rounded white collars that ministers wear are most identified with Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran traditions.

Clergy who wear a clergy collar do not have to explain themselves, their role, who they are, or what they are doing.  The vast majority of people who see clergy wearing a clergy collar in a hospital understand he or she is there visiting a sick patient. I also discovered that many surprising courtesies were given to me because of the collar: helpful pointers, extended visitation time, access to sensitive areas of the hospital and quality time with hospital staff.

Many evangelical Christians scoff at the idea of a minister wearing a clergy collar.  A collar is too Catholic. It’s not. Actually, it was a protestant minister who created the white collar. The Rev. Donald Mcleod, a Scottish Presbyterian minister, invented the detachable clerical collar in 1894, though other forms existed before 1894.

Wearing a clergy collar is something I did not take lightly. It is not something I wore for show or for respect. Just as a police officer wears a uniform, or a doctor wears a lab coat, ministers wear clergy collars as a way to identify their purpose.  Many at funerals, hospitals, airports or on the street have asked me questions about faith or wanted prayer simply because I was wearing a clergy collar.

In a culture where symbols and images are highly valued, a clergy collar is a way to communicate that a pastor is present and open to ministering to the needs of others. Wearing a clergy collar allows others to know that a clergy person is there to serve. As a minister, I also wore a clergy collar to remind myself that I had a responsibility to be Christ like, especially when in public. It is hard to disappear in a crowd if you make a fool of yourself in a clergy collar.

A minister in a clerical collar is a walking testimony. The sight of a cheerful, happy minister confidently walking down the street can even be a magnet drawing people towards God.

Some Christians will say Jesus wore the clothing of the working man, not special clothes of the clergy. That may be true some of the time, but Jesus must have worn the clothing of a rabbi at other times because people walked up to Jesus out of the blue, addressed Him immediately as “teacher,” which the New Testament informs us is the translation of the word “rabbi.” Without knowing who He was, they knew what He was, because they asked him to do rabbinical things: to heal the sick, cast out demons, settle disputes, probate wills, and decide religious issues. There were times when Jesus must not have been dressed as a rabbi because the people did not understand how he knew what He did about God. While Jesus definitely did not wear a black shirt with a white collar, He obviously at times wore the first-century equivalent. So clergy who wear clericals may be imitating Christ.