Introverts in the Evangelical Church

I just completed reading a book entitled  Quiet:The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.  The author is a former lawyer who was apparently successful (Harvard Law, affluent practice in New York) but unhappy with the match of her personality to her work and went on a search for a number of years to understand herself and introverts in general.  The book is not written from a Christian perspective: she is from a Jewish family and speaks about living with her boyfriend (unmarried) and makes some other comments that generally indicate a philosophy that seems to think that whatever comes naturally is 'good'; there is not much indication of any acceptance that nature could be fallen or sinful. Nonetheless she has done her homework on introversion and its counterpart extroversion and makes some good points.

I found the discussion of both the church and MBA programs most interesting. My disdain for MBA programs is well known among my close colleagues at work since I consider the content of MBA programs to be closer to a 'certificate' program than a true professional degree like law or medicine. The well-defined body of knowledge is just not there. In this book, the author's time exploring the Harvard MBA program and interviewing some students there betrayed yet another issue: a clear bias toward extroversion as if that were a skill.  It has been documented more than once that MBA students are much more likely to cheat than other graduate programs, and the glut of MBAs on Wall Street and their role in the 2008 financial crisis have raised questions about the integrity of the kinds of folks attracted to the 'elite' MBA programs. While the book does not resolve those questions it does reinforce a bias in those programs towards speaking out more than thinking deeply.  This idea of 'leadership' leaves a lot to be desired.

Her overall thesis is that around the start of the 20th century there was a major shift away from the historic 'culture of character' to a culture of impressions, in which the impression you make is more important than your overall character. Others have made similar observations, but she connects this to a shift to a more dramatic bias towards extroverts in leadership roles than had been prior to that time. Folks like Lincoln and Washington were likely introverts and may have been rejected as leaders in more recent times. I think this thesis has some merit, though it is probably not the whole story.

The section on the evangelical church, though she is an 'outsider' to the evangelical culture, also makes some good points. Much of the discussion is based on Saddleback Church where Rick Warren is pastor.  I have not been there, but she concludes that 'evangelical culture ties together faithfulness with extroversion'. Again, I think there is some truth to her assertion. It was clear to me back when I attended seminary that evangelical churches do not want pastors to be theologians or scholars so much as they want salesmen. Services leave little room for contemplation and quiet; some places make extroversion (specifically, an 'E' as the first letter in your Myers-Briggs personality assessment) a requirement for consideration.  At one point she quotes a senior 'priest' (since she is Jewish, it is not clear to me whether this was an evangelical church or not since most evangelical churches don't have priests, though a few do) advises his parishes 'if the first letter isn't an E ' in their Myers-Briggs, 'then think twice....I am sure our Lord was an extrovert!'  Then there is evangelism training, where everyone who is not making every chance contact into a presentation of the gospel is clearly unfaithful to the Great Commission!

She comments on how the church service at Saddleback reminds her of the 'Unleash the Power Within' seminar that Tony Robbins sells. Ouch! That is the seminar that tries to cajole everyone to do the 'Firewalk' (on hot coals) at the end (and recently lost a lawsuit due to injuries during one of those fire walks)!

I have concluded in recent years that some of my misunderstandings while growing up about what it means to be a Christian are as much a result of the cultural bias toward extroversion as they were to anything else. As a child, it was clear that a highly emotional and public 'conversion' was the preferred 'testimony', but that was not my experience. As a college student it was clear that doing 'cold call' evangelism was the preferred idea of a 'soul winner' but that was not how I came to faith nor was it the kind of witness that I saw bearing fruit among my friends. As I listened to evangelical preachers through the years, it has been clear that most are better at being salesmen than at being scholars. All of those display a bias to what the book calls 'the extrovert ideal'.

I have begun to think that perhaps the Reformed scholars, who are more scholars than salesmen, do better work in theology than most evangelicals because they have avoided 'the extrovert ideal'. In so doing, they actually have time to think instead of just talking all the time!