How Should a Pastor Dress? A Veteran Preacher’s Honest Take

Urban Philadelphia. Broad ethnic diversity. Broad backgrounds of expectations of what people wear going to church. Broad range of socio-economic conditions and capabilities. When I look around the congregation, I see everything from traditional black church Sunday best, to more subdued suitcoats like I grew up with in Fundamentalist circles, to collared shirts and slacks (probably the larges contingent?), to sweatshirts or T-shirts. All of this shifts drastically with the weather, because we have a hundred-year-old building with no air conditioning that has occasionally hit 90 degrees indoors for an hour and a half long service. (We have an air conditioned classroom with live stream for those who physically can't bear that.)

I'm an elder. I typically wear exactly what I wear to work (even though I work from home), which is bank business casual. I think I've worn dress shorts with a collared shirt on one or two of those 90-degree days, because, yeah, I think I'll pay attention better. Our pastor has done overseas work in Africa and wears African dashikis, which honestly I think are an outstanding way to be formal and cool (in the temperature sense of the word) at the same time.

What I like best? Absolutely nobody is trying to be trendy. I have visited churches where the pastor is in jeans and has carefully cut hair and it all screams, "Trying too hard for an image." It is far less distracting to me to walk into a traditional Fundamentalist church where the men wear coats and ties simply because "This is what we do" so long as they make the visitor in a sports team hoodie feel welcome too.

I think Michael hits on a very important reality as he says "Absolutely nobody is trying to be trendy.". I can't speak for all churches, but what I've seen in a lot of churches is precisely the pastor trying to lead by being trendy, and there are a bunch of problems with that. For starters, on a pastor's salary, it's hard to keep up with the trends without going broke or demanding a monstrous salary. The pastor doesn't need that, and the congregation needs that even less.

And at the same time, the old 1970s/1980s "rule" of "wear a suit" needs to go as well, and really for the same reason; people were wearing suits more or less as a badge of respectability, and the less affluent parishioners were stuck buying cheap polyester, which was horrible in all seasons.

My take for pastors is, like Michael's, the same as for work. It ought to be comfortable for the wearer, appropriate for the season and setting, and ought not unduly attract attention to certain characteristics of the wearer. If you're rotund, buy clothes with a bit of ease. If you're slender, buy clothes with a bit of ease. If you're muscular, buy clothes with a bit of ease. If your muscles only show up with a magnifying glass, buy clothes with a bit of ease.

And that "bit of ease" (i.e. clothes don't fit tightly) also has a lot to do with comfort. And then be yourself--I can pull off a collared shirt well, but probably not a dashiki. It's OK.

Personally, I can’t seem to get too worked up about what pastors wear. When I read the Bible’s descriptions of the simple, basic, and even rough clothing worn by (for example) Elijah, John the Baptist, Paul, and even Jesus Himself, arguments that “dressing up” for pastors is necessary, or even for some reason(s) best, largely fail to resonate with me.

I can't argue with Larry's comments, but I also have applied the advice in the article for years. I think the article gives the pastor a "safe" choice in what to wear even if we should not have to worry about such things. Although I agree with Larry, I also recognize how the weaker brother argument could be applied here.