Ex vs. In.
written by Julie R. Neidlinger 5 comments link this postKeith Schooley has a great post about far more than what I'm about to pull out of it:
"...evidently only extroverts are real Christians..."
And there, in just six words, did he sum up the entire agony of my teens and early 20's church experience. Endless guilt where I confused being an introvert with sin.
Any introvert knows exactly what Keith is saying. He or she knows the gut-twisting guilt handed out by preachers preaching methods instead of truth, guilt that isn't even valid
Evangelism was always described in ways of extroverted methods. Confrontation! Handing out Chick Tracts (oh my)! Carrying your Bible around to every high school class, even Phy Ed! Praying in the hallway at the drop of the hat! Forcing yourself to be an Outward Christian so that others will see these Exterior Things!
Exterior. Extrovert.
Bible camp and youth convention speakers were always these exuberant, outgoing, extroverted-to-the-point-of-obnoxiousness Christians. My opinion of what passes for youth ministry1 can be partly summed up as Loud Methods to Keep Extroverted Attention-Needing Individuals Focused. The introverts are seldom heard on this matter because introverts are seldom heard. Period.
That's the point.
Of course, this is because the entire world caters to extroverts. Self-help books and teachers extol the proactive qualities of the extrovert. Extrovert-ism is rewarded in our Western Culture. Extroverts are the ones writing all the self-help books, possibly because they need the most help or they are the least familiar with self. Extroverts enjoy giving introverts advice which can be boiled down to -- no matter how it's packaged -- "be an extrovert."
I wrote a post and linked to an article about introverts and extroverts a couple of years ago. Go read the article. I implore thee.
But regarding what Keith said?
Yeah.
What Keith said.
1During his visit, Jim (who has worked in youth ministry) and I talked briefly about youth ministry today, and where it is and isn't going. I sure wish I'd have picked his brains about it more, reluctance or not...
Labels: christianity, culture, youth
Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger 9/27/2007 10:09:00 PM
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5 Comments:
Thanks for the kind comments, Julie.
You nailed it, perfectly. I keep wanting to add something, but you really said it all.
(Well, I could, but it's another whole can of worms. Let's just say, the Extrovert thing is intimately related to the Evangelism Is Everyone's Responsibility thing. Which I don't think is true in the way that most people do. But I'm a bit reluctant to get too public about that.)
By 
Keith Schooley, at
September 28, 2007 6:50 PM
Keith, please alert me when you overcome your reluctance. I would love to hear what you have to say on the matter.
By Julie R. Neidlinger, at
September 28, 2007 7:06 PM
"Introverts are fine with the way they are until someone makes them not fine."
I read that article some time ago. I had forgotten how much I loved the single sentence quoted above. Story of my life.
You can still pick my brain, btw. I'm not sure if the aforementioned reluctance was mine, but I'll gladly put it aside to answer/discuss whatever you want.
By 
Jim, at
September 29, 2007 8:20 PM
The reluctance was mine. I emailed Julie about what I was referring to. Not sure if she's gotten it, though...
By Keith Schooley, at
September 30, 2007 10:23 PM
Keith, I got your email ('twas excellent). I emailed back. But, since my email seems to be unreliable (not excellent) I've re-sent it. It's terrible that it seems like I didn't respond!
But I very much appreciated what you sent.
