Does it matter how we dress?

Recently I attended a large pastors conference for well over 1000 pastors, mainly from the USA and Canada, but others visiting from throughout the world.

Most pastors were dressed casually, but neat. I had been looking forward to hearing the main speaker for quite a while since I have really enjoyed his books and even printed one in the Philippines for needy pastors. However, it was quite shocking to see the way he dressed, especially in the first session. While most people were dressed neatly, the speaker was dressed sloppily. His shirt was very wrinkled and he wore faded trousers, not slacks. It would have made a big difference in showing respect to those with whom he ministered to have on a nice pressed shirt, possibly with a sweater, and nice pressed slacks.

Does it matter how we dress? Let me quote something from Derek Prime and Alistair Begg’s excellent book, On Being a Pastor (Understanding Our Calling and Work. They write:

“Dress is a very personal matter. In certain traditions the wearing of… or gown means that dress is largely taken care of, but for others of us it is not. The way we dress should reflect our sense of privilege at being Jesus Christ’s representatives. Although He does not look upon outward appearance but upon our hearts, we know the world at large expects important occasions to be handled with dignity, and rightly or wrongly, they may come to conclusions about our respect for God by the way we dress. We should be clean, smart, and yet unspectacular in our appearance and clothing when we are in the public eye, so that we do not draw attention away from the worship of God and careful listening to His Word to ourselves.” (page 203)

Doug Nichols