Introverts In The Church
While surfing around yesterday evening I came across a blog post over at Patheos.com called "Introverts In The Church" that I wanted to share. It's based on yet another blog post by Richard Beck entitled "A Walk with William James, Part 8: Introverts in the Imago Dei?"
Being a card carrying introvert myself (about half the people in the US are introverts by the way), I was very interested in both posts and in the related comments.
This whole topic is something that has bothered me for a really long time and I was very glad to read that I wasn't along in being so bothered. Funny thing for an introvert to write? Not really.
One of the golden lines from Richard Beck's piece is this: "Introverts are very, very relational. They just aren’t sociable."
I'm not sure that extroverts will even catch what that really means, but I understand it completely. What it means is that introverts pretty much abhor your garden-variety, social-butterfly chitchat and interaction, because to us it is pretty much meaningless - and to force ourselves to try and engage in it is just about one of the most dishonest and 'fake' things we can do in public. If we get stuck in it, it makes us feel badly about ourselves. We get put into these situations where we're damned if we do, and damned if we don't.
If we can't escape, we're damned because we end up doing things that are fake so basically we end up lying not only with our mouths, but our whole bodies - but if we don't, we're damned for being uncaring, unfriendly, or *gasp*, unspiritual.
So we try and avoid such situations like the plague, and if we get trapped we do our best but in most cases our best isn't nearly good enough. Pretty much we suffer though it as best we can and just hope it doesn't last very long.
But at the same time, we are very, very relational. What does that mean? It means we value meaningful relationships very, very highly. A meaningful relationship is one where someone has thought, written, or said something that is actually worth spending some time on receiving... and hopefully, giving back to them as well. Or, it's time spent with someone who really needs our time for empathy, comfort, reassurance, etc... in other words, meaningful things.
We all get a limited number of seconds upon the earth. A meaningful relationship is such that one doesn't mind giving up some of those precious seconds to listen to what this other type of person has to say, or to offer them ourselves if they need us.
So just to put a practical note to that, here are some things that I'd like to suggest to your average, American Evangelical church - and I know statistically about half the people reading this won't agree, but it's just a reach out to those that operate our churches that more than likely, you are alienating about half of your actual or potential congregations - and I do apologize for the parts of this that will sound snappy - I'm not trying to be rude, just clear:
1. Instead of having Bible study classes that are basically adult versions of everything about 50% of us loathed in high school, how about having some honest to goodness Bible study classes? You know, things that actually resemble "classes" but where God's Word is studied in-depth and where seeking folks can ask questions and get answers that don't start with very nervous eyebrows and stammered speech?
It's pretty lame to walk into a "Bible study" class that has very little study and very little Bible.
2. There isn't anything wrong with Christian fellowship classes, but why not just call them that? Why not have a group of meetings that are largely social and unapologetically so, and other meetings that are unapologetically serious? You know, like the level of gravity that permeates the pages of Scripture?
3. Why must evangelical church services start out with something that more closely resembles a pep-rally at a public school rather than people saved by Grace praising God out of the thankfulness of their hearts? It seems to me like the focus is often to get people on their feet, get them pumped up, get them energized (yes, the dreaded "clap along with us" - must we ape the little wind-up monkey toy with the cymbals?)- rather than simply pointing out through song what God has done for them, and then allowing the Holy Spirit to energize them. Isn't this latter thing what the church is supposed to be about?
I would really love to see hymns make a comeback in the music portion of the church. To my way of thinking, hymns have it all: they typically are condensed theology whose writers penned most of them in extremely trying times in their lives - thus they come from deep meaning, talk about things that are deeply meaningful, praise the Lord for all of His attributes, and hold out hope and encouragement to those who sing them as only deep and meaningful things can. Isn't that what the church is supposed to be about?
The typical saccharine stuff that passes for music in church these days just doesn't have the same effect. I would never say it should be all hymns, there are great new songs too, but just compare in your head the witness of a modern take on church music verses the message communicated to a visiting lost person by something like "Amazing Grace" or "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing". Isn't communicating these things what the church is supposed to be about? Does anyone even remember that we are to communicate the Gospel?
And by the way, I don't believe these things would ever be seen as boring or uninteresting to someone outside of Christ when sung by those in Christ. Personally, I can't read or sing either of those two old hymns without sobering up because they are my personal testimony to the faithfulness of God in the gift of His Son.
I think by basically lobotomizing the musical portions of our services we are doing a great disservice to the lost among us who wander in our doors. Instead of showing them what only God can do, we show them what they can see anytime at your average motivational conference at a local convention center.
4. Then there is the preaching. Oh my. No doubt I've already shot my mouth off enough as it is, so I'll really have to watch myself on this one.
Why does so much of the preaching in our modern churches have to be so bad?
Here's a news flash for preachers that were never really called to preach or have checked out of their calling: The Gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive. It isn't offensive because there is something wrong with it. It's offensive because there is something wrong with us. People need to hear about sin. People need to hear about God's judgment upon sin. People need to hear about love bought atonement. People need to hear about repentance, faith, and a new creation. They need to hear about reconciliation with God, why it's needed, and how it's possible. And they need to hear about this every time the Word is preached.
Lately I myself have been guilty of omitting some of these things as well, so I'm not pointing a finger out without pointing a finger at myself. We can do much better and we had better.
When did true gospel preaching get replaced with sanctimonious, saccharine blather? When did the Word of God get replaced with liberalism with a veneer of Christianity? When did convicting speech cease to flow from our pulpits? When did it stop being God centered and instead become congregation centered?
When did preachers start thinking that what they have to say is more important than what God has to say?
True preachers from ages past have voiced an observation over and over again, and that is that unconverted (unsaved) ministers are the clear and present danger to the church in any time. It's still true today and I think it explains much about what is wrong with our modern churches.
May God give us churches that are welcoming to all types of people, and worship and preaching that are worthy of God's salvation.
Being a card carrying introvert myself (about half the people in the US are introverts by the way), I was very interested in both posts and in the related comments.
This whole topic is something that has bothered me for a really long time and I was very glad to read that I wasn't along in being so bothered. Funny thing for an introvert to write? Not really.
One of the golden lines from Richard Beck's piece is this: "Introverts are very, very relational. They just aren’t sociable."
I'm not sure that extroverts will even catch what that really means, but I understand it completely. What it means is that introverts pretty much abhor your garden-variety, social-butterfly chitchat and interaction, because to us it is pretty much meaningless - and to force ourselves to try and engage in it is just about one of the most dishonest and 'fake' things we can do in public. If we get stuck in it, it makes us feel badly about ourselves. We get put into these situations where we're damned if we do, and damned if we don't.
If we can't escape, we're damned because we end up doing things that are fake so basically we end up lying not only with our mouths, but our whole bodies - but if we don't, we're damned for being uncaring, unfriendly, or *gasp*, unspiritual.
So we try and avoid such situations like the plague, and if we get trapped we do our best but in most cases our best isn't nearly good enough. Pretty much we suffer though it as best we can and just hope it doesn't last very long.
But at the same time, we are very, very relational. What does that mean? It means we value meaningful relationships very, very highly. A meaningful relationship is one where someone has thought, written, or said something that is actually worth spending some time on receiving... and hopefully, giving back to them as well. Or, it's time spent with someone who really needs our time for empathy, comfort, reassurance, etc... in other words, meaningful things.
We all get a limited number of seconds upon the earth. A meaningful relationship is such that one doesn't mind giving up some of those precious seconds to listen to what this other type of person has to say, or to offer them ourselves if they need us.
So just to put a practical note to that, here are some things that I'd like to suggest to your average, American Evangelical church - and I know statistically about half the people reading this won't agree, but it's just a reach out to those that operate our churches that more than likely, you are alienating about half of your actual or potential congregations - and I do apologize for the parts of this that will sound snappy - I'm not trying to be rude, just clear:
1. Instead of having Bible study classes that are basically adult versions of everything about 50% of us loathed in high school, how about having some honest to goodness Bible study classes? You know, things that actually resemble "classes" but where God's Word is studied in-depth and where seeking folks can ask questions and get answers that don't start with very nervous eyebrows and stammered speech?
It's pretty lame to walk into a "Bible study" class that has very little study and very little Bible.
2. There isn't anything wrong with Christian fellowship classes, but why not just call them that? Why not have a group of meetings that are largely social and unapologetically so, and other meetings that are unapologetically serious? You know, like the level of gravity that permeates the pages of Scripture?
3. Why must evangelical church services start out with something that more closely resembles a pep-rally at a public school rather than people saved by Grace praising God out of the thankfulness of their hearts? It seems to me like the focus is often to get people on their feet, get them pumped up, get them energized (yes, the dreaded "clap along with us" - must we ape the little wind-up monkey toy with the cymbals?)- rather than simply pointing out through song what God has done for them, and then allowing the Holy Spirit to energize them. Isn't this latter thing what the church is supposed to be about?
I would really love to see hymns make a comeback in the music portion of the church. To my way of thinking, hymns have it all: they typically are condensed theology whose writers penned most of them in extremely trying times in their lives - thus they come from deep meaning, talk about things that are deeply meaningful, praise the Lord for all of His attributes, and hold out hope and encouragement to those who sing them as only deep and meaningful things can. Isn't that what the church is supposed to be about?
The typical saccharine stuff that passes for music in church these days just doesn't have the same effect. I would never say it should be all hymns, there are great new songs too, but just compare in your head the witness of a modern take on church music verses the message communicated to a visiting lost person by something like "Amazing Grace" or "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing". Isn't communicating these things what the church is supposed to be about? Does anyone even remember that we are to communicate the Gospel?
And by the way, I don't believe these things would ever be seen as boring or uninteresting to someone outside of Christ when sung by those in Christ. Personally, I can't read or sing either of those two old hymns without sobering up because they are my personal testimony to the faithfulness of God in the gift of His Son.
I think by basically lobotomizing the musical portions of our services we are doing a great disservice to the lost among us who wander in our doors. Instead of showing them what only God can do, we show them what they can see anytime at your average motivational conference at a local convention center.
4. Then there is the preaching. Oh my. No doubt I've already shot my mouth off enough as it is, so I'll really have to watch myself on this one.
Why does so much of the preaching in our modern churches have to be so bad?
Here's a news flash for preachers that were never really called to preach or have checked out of their calling: The Gospel of Jesus Christ is offensive. It isn't offensive because there is something wrong with it. It's offensive because there is something wrong with us. People need to hear about sin. People need to hear about God's judgment upon sin. People need to hear about love bought atonement. People need to hear about repentance, faith, and a new creation. They need to hear about reconciliation with God, why it's needed, and how it's possible. And they need to hear about this every time the Word is preached.
Lately I myself have been guilty of omitting some of these things as well, so I'm not pointing a finger out without pointing a finger at myself. We can do much better and we had better.
When did true gospel preaching get replaced with sanctimonious, saccharine blather? When did the Word of God get replaced with liberalism with a veneer of Christianity? When did convicting speech cease to flow from our pulpits? When did it stop being God centered and instead become congregation centered?
When did preachers start thinking that what they have to say is more important than what God has to say?
True preachers from ages past have voiced an observation over and over again, and that is that unconverted (unsaved) ministers are the clear and present danger to the church in any time. It's still true today and I think it explains much about what is wrong with our modern churches.
May God give us churches that are welcoming to all types of people, and worship and preaching that are worthy of God's salvation.
Revelation 3:14-19 (Amplified Bible)
Rev 3:14 And to the angel (messenger) of the assembly (church) in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the trusty and faithful and true Witness, the Origin and Beginning and Author of God’s creation:
Rev 3:15 I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!
Rev 3:16 So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth!
Rev 3:17 For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
Rev 3:18 Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be [truly] wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see.
Rev 3:19 Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].
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