Churches sometimes unintentionally equate faithfulness with extroversion; we draw up a composite sketch of the "ideal" Christian--gregarious, with an overt passion and enthusiasm, eager to participate in a wide variety of activities, shares their faith with strangers regularly, assumes leadership positions quickly, opens up their home to others often--and this ideal person starts sounding suspiciously like an extrovert. Add on top of that the talkative, mingling informality of many churches and you've produced an environment that is intimidating to many introverts, who may find these settings distracting for developing their spirituality.
I can identify, being a bit of an introvert myself. I'm grateful that, though the evangelical culture tends to expect extroversion as the ideal, God doesn't use a cookie cutter when he creates us for his uses. Again, McHugh:
I find the fact that God uses people of all different sorts of gifts, abilities, and temperaments, incredibly comforting. Introversion is not a category in the Bible, but the patriarch Jacob was called "a quiet man" and the great prophet Moses protested God's call by saying he was "heavy-mouthed" and ineloquent on a public stage, something that some of us can relate to. Jesus' mother Mary was deeply introspective and reflective. And God clearly did great things through those biblical characters.
(Adam McHugh is the author of Introverts in the Church. You can read more about him at Sophia Dembling's blog, hosted at Psychology Today.
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