Introverted Evangelists? You've got to be kidding.

The eighth chapter of Adam McHugh's book, Introverts in the Church, is entitled "Introverted Evangelism" -- a term that many people might consider to be an oxymoron. I've always considered myself to be more of a discipler than an evangelist and this chapter pretty much bears that out, except that Adam makes the point that that discipling sort of behavior might also work well as evangelistic sort of behavior.  Let me explain from my point of view first, then I'll toss in some quotes from the book.     

When I think of discipling, I think of deep conversations about scripture, spirituality, life and our place in it. It's often a one-on-one thing and though one person in that pairing might be more "mature" or knowledgeable than the other, both end up learning and benefiting from the relationship and interactions. What Adam is saying is that when you do that exact sort of thing, only you're doing it with a non-Christian, that's evangelism.  

OK, so here's some words from the horse's mouth:

I think that our prevailing evangelistic methods are ill-suited for introverts.

For too long we have envisioned evangelism as one person, carrying a quiver of answers, assaulting another person who is armed with the questions. 

Rather, I consider us all to be explorers of the mysteries of God.  Fellow explorers are bound together by their trust and friendship, and by their shared aspirations and struggles.

We might even call our style of evangelism a "listening evangelism."

Postmodern people are not as persuaded by rational argumentation as much as they are by a lifestyle that substantiates a person's worldview.

He also made a comment that I found particularly interesting just from the introvert vs. extrovert perspective.  He said, "Introverts are more exhausted by initiating than by responding."  That is SO TRUE. There have been times when I've had "call so-and-so" on my to-do list for days.  But then for some reason they'll call me instead and I'm so relieved that I can accomplished whatever I needed to without having had to initiate the call. 

I always assumed that it was just an "I hate telephones" thing, but as I think about it, I can see that it fits for other circumstances as well. For example, it's hard for me to walk up to visitors during Sunday morning services. I don't know what to say or ask or do.  But if someone else is already talking to them, and I can just walk up and stand there until there's a point of conversation that I'm interested in and can speak to, then I feel much more comfortable and able.