Introverts in the Church

Summary

I recently saw an advertisement for a new pastor. It specified that “the candidate must have an outgoing and energetic personality.” For many churches, the ideal pastor is outgoing, gregarious, loves to meet new people and shake their hands, is quick-witted in social conversations, has lots of energy, and dazzles people with charm and charisma.

In other words, these churches look for extroverted pastors who will bring fire and enthusiasm to congregational life. It’s true that extroverts have many gifts to offer a church, whether or not they’re in a leadership role. About a decade ago here at Berkey, we had two men who were happy extroverts. During the coffee break between worship and Christian education, these two guys would bounce around the fellowship hall with huge smiles on their faces, greeting one person after another, glad-handing everyone they met. You could tell that the fellowship time energized them tremendously. In turn, they helped to energize social interactions between people. The fellowship hall buzzed when they were around. Then at about the same time, both men left us. One died and the other moved on to another congregation elsewhere. If you were paying attention, you noticed the change immediately. A little bit of the pop and sizzle were gone. Neither one of them was a pastor, but they were both key leaders in the social life of our congregation. Churches definitely benefit from extroverts.