A while back, blog friend Jamie Arpin-Ricci posted an interview with Adam McHugh, author of Introverts in the Church. I recently heard of the book and ended up reading Jamie’s interview. The book sounds really interesting and one that could be an important read for us crazy extroverts who a lot of times end up as church leaders to reflect on our relationship to introverts. I found the following discussing on how introverts engage in mission and evangelism especially interesting.
JAR: What does it mean for introverts to be missional? To engage in evangelism? Do you have any examples to illustrate?
AM: I saw a blog post a while back that called introverts “sugar in the missional gas tank.” I was surprised by the lack of nuance and thoughtfulness in that post, but even more so I was startled that many commentors actually agreed with the author. Clearly, in many circles introverts are trying to dig themselves out of a deep hole, and maybe my book, if nothing else, will make a good shovel. It is a false dichotomy to say that extroverts do the work of evangelism and outreach, and introverts do the work of spirituality and prayer. It’s not a matter of different activities; it’s a matter of different ways of doing many of the same activities. Introverts can do evangelism, introverts can engage in the missio Dei, and if we are not, we are missing out a key and vital part of our discipleship. For introverts, the most important aspect of mission is context. We will likely to be better in one-on-one contexts than we will be in large groups, and we will likely be better with the same people over time than we will be with encountering strangers. If we center our strategies for evangelism and mission around our personal interests, then we will have more to say and we will find more energy from it. If we find ways to use our natural skills – listening, behind-the-scenes service, compassion, creativity and imagination – in our outreach, then we will be more successful.
I have an introverted friend who is an amazing sculptor, and she told me that she views her art as a wordless way of communicating the gospel. It’s not just that she hopes her art will become a conversation starter, but she prays what she sculpts will actually be a vehicle for mediating the presence of a creative, tender God. She knows that evangelism requires words as well but that God transcends and is more mysterious than any of our verbal formulas and homilies we so often us to try to bring someone to faith.
As I’ve thought about this and my own feelings about how we engage in being missional, I think there’s a lot for us to learn from introverts when it comes to evangelism and missionality.
The rest of the interview is worth the read, check it out if this is interesting to you.
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that’s awesome! thanks for the post. as an introvert myself, i can say that being part of church ministry has always been a challenge. i have had many occasions where my approach has been misunderstood and even criticized (oh, the flack i got as a ministry coordinator in college because i didn’t go to hosanna worship nights). thanks for the post. that is an interesting insight and something that makes me both accept the strengths of both introverts and extroverts and makes me want to challenge my own nature more. thanks!
Thanks Whitney. I posted it because I find myself lately processing how to orchestrate a group of people that are all different. It’s easy to judge everyone by the standard of how we ourselves operate, but I’m learning there’s a certain level of thoughtfulness that happens before (gently)prodding different types of people in different directions.
As a friend posted on my facebook comments, too often people mistakenly assume introvert != relational, extrovert = relational. And both are false as a blanket statement.
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I read the book and really enjoyed it. Definitely shed a lot of light on myself (a high I) and how I fit into church ministry. I think Adam McHugh is spot-on when he says introverts and extroverts both have a role to play in evangelism and the missio Dei. I also appreciated his comments on the desert fathers and other introverts who’ve made an impact, showing with real examples that introverts can make a difference. It’s definitely a book that both introverts and extroverts should check out.