If you were to look around churches today, you would see a variety of different styles of dress worn by preachers from different churches. Some churches require a preacher to wear a more formal style of dress such as a suit whereas others would be more informal. It has been noted that since the 60s there has been a general movement from the formal dark suits with ties to open neck shirts (Bebbington, 2007, p.13). Some churches, such as some Anglican or Presbyterian churches, require a preacher to wear a robe or a gown, some with various additional items adorning it. As one who does preach, how do I know what I should wear?
In the history of the church, the reformation marked a time of change and movement away from wrongly instituted traditions. One example of this is Andreas Bodenstein of Karlstadt who, on Christmas Day 1521, rejected the priestly garb of the roman church and dressed in his normal clothing which, since he was an academic he wore his university gown, now called the Geneva Robe (Walker, 1963, p.313).
THE GENEVA ROBE
Soon after Karlstadt dressed in the robe, many others in the reformation (including Luther who at first was angry at Karlstadt) began wearing the academic attire. Since then it has been adopted by some (particularly liturgical) churches as standard dress. Jeffery Meyers asserts that the robe is beneficial in that it hides the personality of the preacher (1997), which he claims is particularly helpful when family and friends are in the congregation. Lloyd-Jones, although he chose to wear a robe himself, would immediately refute such reasoning as he asserted that the whole of a person’s personality must be used in preaching (1998, p.81).
Another suggestion for wearing the robe is that it shows that a preacher is set apart (thought not set above) to Minister God’s Word as God’s spokesperson (McMahon). This suggestion seems to go almost to the extent of setting apart the Minister as a Priest for the people. Yet it is noted that one of the main accomplishments of the reformation was the priesthood of all believers (Noll, 1997, p.192). Robert Gribben notes that the disciples Jesus picked would not have been able to wear Levitical Priestly clothing since they were not of the right caste and so the tie to priestly dress for leaders of the church was broken (1993).
It would seem that a theology has been built around a tradition, which is never a sure foundation. This is especially clear when we remember Karlstadt’s reasons for wearing the robe in the first place were to wear his normal clothing. As Lloyd-Jones makes clear, a preacher should not have an ideal picture of preachers of years ago to the extent that we adopt their practice, including service format, preaching style, and particularly for us, clothing (1998, p.138).
FORMAL DRESS
The standard form of dress for most non-liturgical churches seems to be formal dress. Writing over 50 years ago, Nolan Harmon makes clear that this should take the form of a suit (1950). Because Stuart Olyott acknowledges changing trends in fashion, he gives a little more flexibility in that he says a preacher should dress like someone “who has something important to say” and he then goes on to detail that as a person preaching in 21st century Britain, this should be trousers, shirt and tie (2005, p.140).
Before we look at the more serious arguments against wearing more formal attire, Jack Hyles, for practical reasons, has suggested that a preacher should not be afraid to unbutton a shirt and loosen a tie. He also suggests that a preacher should wear loose trousers, as tight ones can affect the preacher’s voice! (1986)
Charles Spurgeon speaks condemningly of those who dress up to preach, saying that “the preacher who measures himself by his mirror may please a few silly girls, but neither God nor man will long put up with him.” Surely the wearing of suits and other formal clothing is in danger of the dressing for show that Spurgeon speaks against.
For a man to dress in formal wear, he is dressing, some would say, as a businessman or a chief executive. As the Preacher is neither of these, surely he should not really dress like one (Redeemer-PCA). To do so is surely at risk of either elevating the preacher or professionalizing the Minister, both of which are unhelpful. In addition, Jeffrey Meyers suggests that although upper middle class people may relate well to a preacher in a suit, people from other classes find it difficult (1997). We should be trying to not exclude those from lower classes, particularly when, at least in my experience, most non-Pentecostal non-denominational Evangelical churches have had a largely middle class demographic and were almost devoid of those from lower classes . Meyers goes on to say that a Minister’s authority should not come from his economic or social status (1997).
INFORMAL DRESS
If we come back to Karlstadt for a moment, although he made the initial change from wearing priestly garb to wearing everyday clothing, which for him was that of an academic, he eventually became unhappy with his change. Karlstadt eventually went on to dress like a peasant. His reasons for doing so were that the wearing of clothes that cause a preacher to appear intelligent or noble can deceive simple people. In addition, academia removes the preacher from the people. Karlstadt suggested that a preacher should follow Christ’s simple lifestyle and therefore adopt simple clothing (Laird, 1983).
Further, as Lloyd-Jones makes clear, the preacher should be contemporary (1998, p.81). Increasingly, people are no longer wearing suits, shirts and ties in everyday life. The last secular job I started in 2005, which was based in an office, I turned up for training with about a dozen others and I was the only man to be wearing a tie and that first day was the only day in three months that I wore a tie. The contemporary world is much less formal than it has been previously; many men no longer even own a suit, and those who do only bring it out for work if required or for weddings or funerals. Shiner speaks about the practicalities of leading a service proposing that nothing should be done to make a visitor feel excluded (2005, p.18). If the person at the front is wearing formal clothing, then the implication is that the visitor ought to wear formal clothing as well. This could cause anyone who dresses informally to feel excluded.
One principle I think we ought to draw from Olyott as a guideline is that we shouldn’t wear things that are distracting (2005, p.140). The focus should be on a preacher’s message not on their attire.
CONCLUSION
Nolan Harmon sums up his thinking by saying that the decision for what a preacher should wear may well be up to the conviction of the preacher, but if a church requires a particular form of dress then a preacher should conform to that (1950). But should that be the case? If a church is unhelpful in insisting upon a preacher wearing a certain form of clothing, shouldn’t the church be corrected? Of course, if a preacher does this without a church understanding why it is unhelpful, then he risks being fired! But where a church is in error, they should be moved on from that.
It seems to me that the wearing of a robe is not only archaic and foreign to everyday culture, but also that it represents a theology that has been built around it that wasn’t present when it was first introduced, in fact a theology that is the opposite to it’s initial introduction.
So how do we now decide between formal or informal dress? Mark Driscoll speaks of how we should be culturally aware, not just of the culture outside a church but also of the culture inside a church. Culture affects many things including what people wear. One of Driscoll’s governing principles is that a church should change it’s cultural form in order to best communicate the gospel to as many people as possible in the surrounding cultures (2004, p.100).
As culture becomes less formal, the Minister(s) of any particular church need to ask if the clothing they wear is going to help those from the surrounding culture or hinder them from hearing the gospel. I suspect that the wearing of a shirt and tie is increasingly likely to alienate than to highlight the importance of the message. At risk of speaking hyperbolically, other than the businessman, who is seeking financial gain, if I were to think of others who wear suits then I would think of the politician, who no one trusts anymore, and the newsreader, who is always bringing bad news. Since a preacher has good news to bring and should do so with honesty, integrity and without seeking financial gain, surely a suit is inappropriate wear?
As for me, at my age and in my culture, I would quite happily wear a plain t-shirt, jeans and trainers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BEBBINGTON, D. W. 2007. Evangelicals and Public Worship, 1965 – 2005. Evangelical Quarterly. LXXIX (1), pp.3-22
DRISCOLL, M. 2004. The Radical Reformission. Zondervan. Michigan
GRIBBEN, R. Liturgical Dress in the Uniting Church. [www] http://nat.uca.org.au/TD/worship/backgroundpapers/3vesture.htm#Calvin (14/03/2007)
HARMON, N. B. 1950. Ministerial Dress. [www] http://www.materialreligion.org/documents/sept97doc.html (14/03/2007)
HYLES, J. 1986. The Care and the Use of the Preacher’s Voice. [www]
http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Books,%20Tracts%20&%20Preaching/Printed%20Books/Dr %20Jack%20Hyles/ Teaching%20On%20Preaching/teaching_on_preaching-chap_16.htm (14/03/2007)
LAIRD, D. G. 1983. The Advent of the Use of the ‘Geneva Gown’ in Public Worship. [www] http://www.glaird.com/vestment.htm (14/03/2007)
LLOYD-JONES, M. 1998. 3rd Edn. Preaching and Preachers. Hodder & Stoughton. London
MCMAHON, C. M. Why a Genevan Robe?. [www] http://www.apuritansmind.com/PuritanWorship/McMahonGenevanRobe.htm (14/03/2007)
MEYERS, J. J. 1997. Why Does the Pastor Wear a Robe? A Defence of the Use of the Ministerial Robe in Public Worship. [www] http://www.hornes.org/theologia/content/jeffrey_meyers/why_does_the_pastor_wear_a_ robe.htm (14/03/2007)
NOLL, M. A. 1997. Turning Points. Inter-Varsity Press. Leicester
OLYOTT, S. 2005. Preaching Pure and Simple. Bryntirion Press. Bridgend
REDEEMER PCA. QUESTION: Why does the minister wear a robe? [www] http://www.redeemer-pca.org/Questions.aspx#robe (14/03/2007)
SHINER, R. 2005. Leading Church. The Briefing. 321. pp.15-18
SPURGEON, C. H. On the Preacher’s Appearance. [www] http://www.obf.net/obf/spurgeon2.htm (14/03/2007)
WALKER, W. 1963. A History of the Christian Church. T & T Clarke. Edinburgh
