Collared!

One of the things I have been experimenting with in the coffee shop is wearing a clerical collar.  As a Baptist minister this makes me feel quite uncomfortable, for a number of reasons, some of which are better than others.

For those who are not familiar with things Baptist, I should explain that most Baptist ministers in the UK don't wear the clerical collar.  Some will wear the collar when visiting people in hospital (easier to get in outside visiting times) or for funerals (it's smart and helps identify the minister), but it would be fairly unusual to see a Baptist minister wearing the collar while leading a Sunday service.  I imagine - without having researched the topic - that this is largely because of the Baptist emphasis on the priesthood of all believers, i.e. all Christians are priests with direct access to God. 

One of the reasons I feel uncomfortable wearing the collar is because it makes me feel as if I am setting myself up above others.  I feel that I am marking myself out as in some way especially holy or worthy of respect, or trying to assert my authority over others in the church.  Please understand, I am not claiming that ministers from other traditions are trying to do this when they wear the collar!   But when I mark myself out in a way most Baptist ministers don't, I wonder what signals it sends out.  My theology of ordination, such as it is, is pretty functional.  A minister is someone who does ministerly things, rather than someone whom God has changed in an indefinable but important way at their ordination.  I have friends who see things quite differently, however, both Baptists and those from other traditions.

A related concern is the message my wearing the collar conveys about my colleagues in the coffee shop.  They are Christians too, passionate about hospitality and wanting to share their faith in appropriate ways with customers.  By wearing a collar, am I sending a message to them, and to customers, that I am the only member of staff who can "do God"?  I hope not.

The first time I wore the collar while serving in the coffee shop, the response from staff and customers was largely positive.  What I found most interesting, as an evangelist, was the way in which wearing the collar flushed out the Christians among our regular customers.  I had been wondering for a while how many of our customers chose to come to us because we were a church-run coffee shop.  It seemed an important thing to know, if we were aiming to maximise our impact among people who don't go to church.  I now have a better idea who goes to the Salvation Army, or the Catholic church opposite, or the Anglican church up the road.  Other customers were curious and asked me about the collar, and their questions revealed that they probably didn't go to church.  Then I was faced with the interesting dilemma of explaining why a Christian minister would spend her time serving coffee (without admitting "well, I'm just trying to convert you all, you see!").  How do you explain relational community evangelism to people you're trying to evangelise, while making it clear that they are not subjects to be manipulated or people who will be discarded if they show no interest in Christianity?  I often think of Rebecca Manley Pippert's comment that evangelism seemed like something you wouldn't do to a dog, let alone somebody you liked.  

I think, on balance, that wearing the collar is worth my feelings of discomfort, at least for the time being, because it opens up conversations that go beyond "I'll have another latte, please".  It's a prop which helps me connect with people on a deeper level.  It's a symbol which instantly identifies me as a Christian, and one who might have the time and the inclination to talk about matters of faith.  And that is something I long to do.