Accused of being antisocial, labelled as shy, I learned at an early age that I am an introvert, which has been confirmed with each personality test I’ve been administered. As I was growing up, I also learned to love the church, earning rug burns swinging around the carpeted poles in Fellowship Hall with friends, adoring stained-glass windows in the sanctuary, meeting and celebrating Jesus, crying about fractures which formed within this family of believers. When I went to college, I found my new church to be the source of most of my friendships, but I felt awkward attempting finding my place, frequently feeling invisible, struggling to make smalltalk, expected to lead but hardly able to relate to the girls in my group, finally learning to bribe friends with food. The topic of Introverts in the Church is obviously of interest to me, so I requested a copy of Adam McHugh’s book from our public library after seeing it positively reviewed.

Characterizing introverts by being "engergized by solitude" (page 35), using "internal processing" (page 37), and having a "preference for depth over breadth" (page 41), McHugh, an introvert, combines his personal experience in ministry with research to present the strengths of introverts, some challenges they face, and potential ways to help introverts be part of the church community without requiring them to turn into extroverts.

Interesting Observations

I nodded knowingly with many of his descriptions, but I also found myself thinking "aha" as I finally connected some of my experiences, such as discomfort in praying with groups and the constant dialogue in my mind, with introversion. I didn’t identify with everything; the "introverted spiral" he uses to describe introverts moving in and out of community (page 94) didn’t click with me.

An association I would not have made is that between introverts and liturgy and tradition. I love liturgy. Many of my friends love liturgy. Many of my friends are introverts. McHugh says:

A paradox I uncovered in my research is that introverts often feel more freedom in worship services that feature traditioinal liturgy than they do in ones that feature more open, informal, unstructured styles of worship. Introverts often appreciate the depth of liturgical prayers and hymns, as well as the rich symbolism that fill traditional churches. They may feel less expectation from worship leaders in these churches to offer outward, emotional responses. (page 190)

I think this book might be useful to extroverts in understanding the introverts around them. I think it does a better job of describing what goes on in my brain than most of the books that try to describe what makes women tick.

Distinguishing Values and Methods

Theological cornerstones of evangelical churches—like the accessibility of a personal, relational God, the authority and inspiration of Scripture, and the command to share the gospel and make new disciples—are paramount, indispensable values. Yet our methods for expressing those values are often tilted toward extroversion, and when we conflate our values with our methods we run the risk of alienating introverts. (page 23)

One of the things I appreciated about Introverts in the Church was the distinction between values and methods. Regarding evangelism, he says "I do not think that introverts are ill-suited for evangelism; I think that our prevailing evangelistic methods are ill-suited for introverts" (page 172). Having heard people imply that discomfort with walking up to people and laying down law and grace indicates fear of man issues, it was relieving to hear McHugh affirm that evangelism isn’t a one-size-fits-all deal. In discussing methods, he doesn’t distort things to allow introversion to be a crutch, as if the Christian life will always be comfortable for introverts, instead saying such things as "Though our Christian witness involves more than words, it never eliminates words altogether" (page 176).

Ultimately, I think he gets the point that it isn’t just about methods:

Even when our resources are at their lowest point, even when we have nothing to offer, we work out of a power that can take our scant reserves and overwhelm people with a mercy that heals both body and soul. (page 65)

I agree with Tony Reinke’s review when it says, "McHugh—a Presbyterian pastor—is most persuasive when he argues that biblical pastoral qualifications (eg Titus 1:5–8, 1 Tim 3:2–7, 1 Pet 5:1–3) do not favor extroverts over introverts."

Helpful Ideas

Several ideas were presented that I think are beneficial. The practice that most stood out to me was the examen, a practice of prayerfully reviewing the day, which I intend to look into more.

Red Flags

Unfortunately, the book had a lot of content that sent red flags waving in my mind. For one thing, he frequently refers to female pastors, either by name or pronoun, subtly indicating that it is normal and appropriate for women to pastor churches. While I’m not saying complementarians should never read work by egalitarians, I think we need to watch out for assumptions in the content we consume, so we don’t drift, unaware, from the truth in God’s Word.

I was disturbed by a story McHugh told in which he was praying, then sees young boy walk by, wearing an outfit nearly identical to his own, who he afterwards believes represented himself, followed by a girl, who seems to be symbolic of God (page 58-59).

He describes practices that seem based on mysticism rather than Christianity, saying things like "Apophatic prayer tries to rid the mind of all images and forms so as to be open to encounter directly the Mysterious One" (page 71).

He tells of a friend who "has occasional moments in which a thought will pounce in from an unknown source, and then she knows that God has joined the conversation in her head" (page 76). Perhaps there is more going on than that, but a big red flashing sign screaming "WARNING" pops up in my mind when people know God is the "unknown source" of a thought, as if demons or our own deceptive hearts cannot suggest seemingly good ideas while hiding the origin and consequences of subtle falsehoods.

I Wish

I wish it had contained some content that it didn’t. For example, it mentioned servant leadership, but I wish he would have discussed non-leadership service more. I enjoyed serving behind the scenes working on the tech team in college; stadium clean-up was one of my favorite "social" activities.

More scripture would have enhanced this book. Much of the content is from stories of introverts or psychology research, neither of which are bad, but I would have liked more from the Bible.

I wish he would have been a little more robust in some of his examples. For example, he points to Jonathan Edwards as an introverted leader. I admire Edwards, and will admit both his introversion and his leadership, but I also know he was dismissed from his pastorate at Northampton. While it is impossible to go back and see, I’ve often wondered if he had cultivated more pleasing social habits, such as smalltalk (which I admittedly dislike), would his relationship with his congregation have been better, allowing more effective ministry?

The Verdict

Overall, I rate the book at 3 stars. Right now, I don’t know of a better treatment of the subject. If I knew voraciously reading introverts pursuing vocational ministry or extroverts struggling to relate to introverts in ministry, I might recommend it.