There are many difficult vocations in the world and many that require a host of useful skills. But I’m convinced that few jobs require a broader skillset than the pastor, and especially the pastor of the average church—the church of modest size that cannot simply hire a new staff member to take on every task the senior pastor does not wish to do or that he does poorly. A young man who intends to pastor in Canada, and who therefore acknowledges that he may well be the sole pastor on staff at a local church, recently asked me, Do extroverts make better pastors? Behind the question was this uncertainty: Can I, as an introvert, be a successful solo pastor? This is my attempt to answer the question.
We should acknowledge that introvert and extrovert are neither Bible words nor even biblical concepts, and that there is no Greek or Hebrew equivalent to either one. Neither Moses, nor Paul, nor anyone who came between them thought in those terms. Then again, neither used a direct equivalent to Trinity or penal substitutionary atonement, so a term need not appear in the Bible to be helpful or to describe reality.
We should always be aware, though, where our terms come from. In this case, they come from the teachings of Carl Jung, a man who was a great despiser of the Christian faith. In that way they are tainted and, if used at all, should not be used in every way he may have used them. Yet if we look to their etymological roots, we can see that there is something to them. Introvert means turned in and extrovert means turned out, so that an introvert is one who tends to internalize his thoughts and process them inwardly, while an extrovert is one who tends to externalize his thoughts and process them outwardly. An introvert is one who tends to feel refreshed and energized by being alone, while an extrovert is one who tends to feel refreshed and energized by being with people. If we take them no further than this, we can acknowledge them as helpful descriptors of two broad personality types: the quieter and the outgoing. Of course, we also need to acknowledge that each is a spectrum, so that some are more introverted or extroverted than others, and that some are perfectly balanced between the two.
Now back to our question: Do extroverts make better pastors?
My answer is no. Both can be equally faithful and fruitful in ministry, though both can be tempted to use personality as an excuse for faithlessness. Neither should think their personality is intrinsically sinful, inferior, or deficient, and neither should try to change themselves into something they are not. Peter would make a poor John, and John would make a poor Peter. Both introverted and extroverted pastors will have different strengths to celebrate and different weaknesses to work on.1
Peter would make a poor John, and John would make a poor Peter.
For example, a pastor who is introverted may find it easier to be alone with his thoughts when diligently studying Scripture and meditating upon it. He may find it easier to dedicate long periods of time to the solitude that allows him to pray or simply ponder deep matters. He may speak little, but pack more wisdom into his few words.
A pastor who is extroverted may find it easier to carry out the social functions of the ministry—counseling parishioners, joining in meetings, and greeting people as they file out of church. He may find it easier to be a discipler and mentor, surrounding himself with people he means to teach and train. He may look forward to being in the pulpit and find that after he preaches he is more energized than before he began.
Yet he will also have his areas of weakness and will need to ask God to help him with these. He may find solitude difficult and find it hard to be alone with the Lord to pray. He may be too dependent upon the presence of other people or look down on those who are less extroverted than he is, thinking that quietness is necessarily a liability in ministry. Meanwhile, the introvert may find himself shying away from the social functions of ministry or find it challenging to be the one who faithfully “entrusts these things to faithful men” (2 Timothy 2:2). He may be jealous of the gregarious pastor and believe that, by comparison, he has some great deficiency.
Yet God is a master at making the best use of our personalities. This shouldn’t surprise us, since he is the one who created us, who carefully crafted us so that we are different from one another. I am convinced he receives more glory from using a multitude of personality types than just one, and so he delights to use the slow-moving and contemplative and the impetuous and impulsive alike. He uses the Moseses and the Aarons, the Ruths and the Naomis, the Marys and the Marthas. He uses them to the degree that they are dutiful, turning their quietness or verbosity, their inwardness or outwardness, their taciturnity or loquaciousness into love for him and service to his people.
Hence, the introvert must be a dutiful introvert, one who acknowledges and accepts what is true about himself but also determines he will never let it interfere with his duty before the Lord. He will not pretend he is an extrovert or stop valuing times of solitude, but he will also not allow his personality to excuse any failure to fulfill the opportunities God presents to him. The extrovert must likewise be a dutiful extrovert, one who acknowledges and accepts what is true about himself but also determines he will never let it interfere with his duty before the Lord. He will not pretend he is an introvert or stop valuing times when he is surrounded by people, but he will also not allow his personality to excuse any failure to pursue the quiet disciplines God expects of him.
Neither of the two broad personality types is better than the other, and neither comes with a greater likelihood of success or failure. While God works through our personalities, he also works apart from our personalities when we humbly submit them to him. He does not make the inward man outgoing or the outgoing man inward, but rather amplifies his desires, his obedience, and his abilities. He gives him a willingness to work apart from his personality when this is what it would mean to serve.
Is it the introverted man that God prefers to be a pastor or the extroverted one? Neither and both! It is the broken and contrite man that God delights to use, the dutiful and surrendered one. This is the man whom God delights to use to shepherd his sheep.
- Speaking of different personality types, I’ve often gotten a chuckle out of this quote from De Witt Talmage: “Jonathan Edwards preached Christ in the severest argument ever penned. John Bunyan preached Christ in the sublimest allegory ever composed. … It might have been a very different story if Jonathan Edwards had tried to write and dream about a pilgrim’s progress to the celestial city, or John Bunyan had attempted an ‘Essay on the Human Will.’” ↩︎
