Acts20.com

I was visiting a member of my church in an assisted living facility who had just moved in yesterday. Her daughter and son-in-law along with the administrator of the facility was in her room, but she wasn't. We do ministry at this facility and the administrator was very friendly as always to me. She excused herself from the room and then the daughter asked me who I was. I told her I was her mom's Pastor and was there to see if she had gotten settle in okay. Her next words about floored me, she said, YOU DON'T LOOK LIKE A PASTOR! I asked her what was a Pastor supposed to look like, but she ignored my question and proceeded asking me several other questions. I was waiting for her to pull out a waterboard, because I felt like I was being interrogated. I had met this lady last year at another hospital, because her mother was having surgery and I was there till her mother was in the recovery room after her surgery.I didn't have my three piece suit on and wasn't carrying my family Bible, but I wasn't dressed like a bum either. I had on dark jeans without holes or faded spots, a nice dark sweatshirt with a white dress shirt on underneath and clean black tennis shoes. I took her questioning me for not looking like a Pastor in her opinion, because of my attire, so I proceeded telling her that clothes doesn't always make the man.When I got home, I told my wife what had happen, so I am now in the market for a flowing black robe and a white collar to wear backwards, because I guess that is what Pastors are supposed to wear, so people will know they are a Pastor.

Well, if a stranger showed up to see my Mom, I'd want to know a thing or two about him myself regardless of how he was dressed.There are two angles in her questions. One might have been that she didn't think a pastor would dress the way you did and she thought you should have dressed differently. The other might have been that since you didn't fit the profile of what she expected, she wanted to make sure you were who you said you were before she let you see her mother.

Motorcycle helmet

The first few times when I would ride my motorcycle to the hospital to make a pastoral visit, the lady at the front desk told me , I did not look like a pastor.

Well, they have probably already guessed that you are a religious man from the red turban.

and no one uses clergy badges here. I have had them in the past in larger cities and they were very useful.

Very astute observation I rarely wear a coat & tie so the badge helps. Some hospitals require some kind of documentation to affirm you're a member of the clergy. But others simply print a badge with a photo/name ID. I'm in a large city so that also helps with parking. We have quite a few seniors in our congregation, which often translates to frequent visits to nursing/surgical/rehab facilities.

if the administrator had not been in the room and acknowledge me and I had not sat in a waiting room with this lady and her siblings for three hours the previous year. I don't think that I was dressed misappropriate for a casual visit. I was shocked that this daughter was even there due to the fact that she and her mother doesn't get along very well.

if the administrator had not been in the room and acknowledge me and I had not sat in a waiting room with this lady and her siblings for three hours the previous year. I don't think that I was dressed misappropriate for a casual visit. I was shocked that this daughter was even there due to the fact that she and her mother doesn't get along very well.

No matter how clean they were and how nice you looked, jeans, a sweatshirt, and tennis shoes are probably considered under-dressed for a minister. I am a very casual pastor and never wear a suit except for funeral's and weddings, but in a hospital I wear khaki slacks and a button-down shirt and nice casual shoes. It is not uncommon for me to interact with doctors, nurses, or other caregivers and I want to represent my profession as best I can.