Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture, by Adam S. McHugh (IVP Books, 2009)
This isn't actually a review—yet. But this is clearly a book I need to read, so I've ordered it from the library despite my already intimidating "to read" list.
Adam McHugh was interviewed in the most recent Mars Hill Audio Journal, and I was hooked immediately. (Something like this happens every time I think about letting my Mars Hill subscription lapse.)
McHugh tells the story of one little girl who was astonished when mother commented that she was being awfully quiet—because it was anything but quiet in her own mind.
Introverts have constant activity going on in their heads; neurological studies have shown that the brains of introverts actually show more blood flow, more activity, than the brains of extroverts; this, it is speculated, is why they need less external stimulation. IN fact, they need solitude in order to be able to deal with all that neurological action, and if they don't get it, their brain chemistry becomes imbalanced.
So. Li'l Writer Guy is not my own invention, but the normal manifestation of an introverted brain.
Another reason I was intrigued by this particular book was the author's view that the Church marginalizes introverts, making them feel unwanted, ungifted, and inferior—and in the process missing out on the particular gifts introverts have to bring to the Body of Christ. The reason, McHugh explains, is that most American churches, like our society in general, are run by extroverts and promote a culture of extroversion. I suspect I'll agree with him when I read the book, but I'm almost certain my son-in-law, the extrovert, will strongly disagree. Perhaps it is the endpoints that are marginalized, and feel that society is bent towards the other extreme—the way my liberal friends see a strong conservative bias to the news media, when it is so obviously the other way around. :)
McHugh has a website, Introverted Church, which I've only begun to investigate. I think it's going to be fun, and maybe helpful. I've already found a number of Yes! moments, such as this comment in a discussion about introverts in communal cultures.
[L]iving in West and Central Africa as an introvert was very hard. My housemate (also an introvert) and I basically took turns dealing with the streams of people. Having a housemate also took care of some other introvert pitfalls, like the fact that it was considered horrible that someone should be alone while they were sick. The cultural norm was that your friends should come sit by your bedside. Our African friends assumed that my housemate was doing that for me, when what she was *really* doing was letting me have alone time.
While it's nice to have someone around to help out when one is sick, having someone constantly by my bedside would definitely impede my recovery.
Have any of you read McHugh's book? What are your thoughts?
