I picked up this new book, by Adam S. McHugh, at the SBL conference in New Orleans. When I bought it at the IVP stand, the woman serving me said, ‘So, you’re an introvert, huh?’ To which I replied, ‘Isn’t everybody at SBL?’.
At a conference for Bible geeks, there is no doubt a high proportion of introverts. But introverts are certainly not on home turf in many of our churches.
I recently read the book and recommend it for any introverted Christian, AND all extroverted pastors.
It’s helpful for introverts to alleviate the guilt that our extroverted evangelical culture sometimes causes. The book offers understanding that some introverts may not yet have about themselves, and provides lots of helpful hints and tips for being an introvert in ministry. It lets introverts off the hook at times, and challenges us at other times.
It’s helpful for extroverted pastors to help them to understand 50% of their congregations, and to be able to have effective team ministry with introverts. The book describes some ways in which extroverts and introverts can work together powerfully for good.
Probably the chapter I found most helpful was on introverts in leadership. There is a lot of helpful advice here for introverts who find themselves leading ministry teams, and how to lead as introverts, rather than pretending to be extroverts.
There are a few things in the book that I found a bit odd, arising out of the author’s apparently slightly-mystical version of evangelicalism. Extolling the virtues of some monastic practices was one of those things, but there’s still food for thought there.
If you’re an introvert, read it. If you’re an extroverted pastor, read it.
Posted by Con Campbell
Rick Creighton
Bruce Lowe
Con Campbell
RSS feed - Posts
Subscribe by Email
Thanks for the recommendation; I’ve now ordered it and will let you know what I think.
A UK amazon link for those of us in the UK:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Introverts-Church-Finding-Extroverted-Culture/dp/0830837027/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261420068&sr=8-1
Also, your snow annoys my browser (bar keeps appearing at the bottom, 100% CPU usage) Firefox / Ubuntu 9.10
Do you think 50% of people are extroverts? I heard that the figure was much smaller.
That’s interesting. I was just using the rough stats in the book.
Looking it up, it appears there aren’t really any hard numbers on the proportions of introverts. Everything I’ve found seems to indicate 25-30%, but a few articles I’ve found are saying 40-50…
How many people whom others see as extroverts, or at least not shy, see themselves as introverts? Many more than you think.
I was interested to read once of how many people say “I never really fitted in at school. I felt like I was on the outer.” Many of these folk didn’t appear introverted or on the outer to others [who also felt they were on the outer ...]
I guess this is why Peanuts had/has such appeal.