The last of the quotes from Lynne Baab on personality types in congregations

I've already posted a few times about Lynne Baab's book, Personality Type in Congregations: How to Work with Others More Effectively. In the last third of the book, Baab addresses personality types in congregations (In other words, the personality type of the church, not just the individuals within it.), considering type in congregational activities (offering a variety of activities to support differing personality types), using type to help be a more effective leader in the church and to help a congregation through a time of change, and using type in pastoral care situations  such as counseling, premarital counseling, ministering to families and even in confirmation classes (helping kids better understand why they connect with some forms of worship or prayer and not others). 

I want to share some more quotes from this book, but if you're interested in type and congregation life, I would definitely encourage you to read the entire book. Baab does a great job of pulling in personality type wisdom from a very large variety of sources and tailoring it specifically to situations, conflicts and service within the church. She also includes several appendices that list resources for digging deeper into specific sub-topics. This book is well worth the read. 

"Without new challenges, we can't grow, and growth and change are a significant part of human development." 

I think one of the things I appreciated most about Baab's book is her emphasis on growth. Using type to better understand yourself and others is a good thing, but it can also be a tool for growth. Baab encourages pastors and leaders not to talk too much about type to their congregations as it might be seen as a different gospel, but she points out that the principals can still be used to help cope with conflict, to ease transitions, and to spur growth both within individuals and the congregation as a whole. 

"Understanding patterns of spiritual growth, particularly growth in self-acceptance and growth through facing the inferior function and the shadow, can help us develop a spirit of gentleness and kindness as we work with others in our congregations. We are all growing. We are all 'people i progress.' We all experience stress and behave in childish way when under pressure. We need a kind word or a gentle listening ear when we experience growth pants. I long four our congregation to be places offering that kind of love and acceptance along with tolerance for the complexity of our spiritual journeys."

This was kind of her concluding paragraph on the importance of growth. She then went on to talk through several specifics such as quiet activities vs. activities that involve lots of interaction between people. Teaching methods in Sunday school classes and how to teach in such a way that all personality types are engaged and learning. She said some stuff about small groups that fit me to a T. (Don't go changing out the people in my small group every single year. I don't like that. I want to get to know people.) She touches on worship, preaching, the way the building looks, and even scheduling events. In other words, she hits upon several things that we might not think about as being helpful or hurtful to people and she gives tips on how to make sure people feel a part of the body rather than being surprised or hurt by things (even simple things like not knowing a part of the service was changed at the last minute). 

She also has an interesting section on Generation X. Considering that the Emergent movement is all about reaching X and Y, her take on the differences via type rather than culture are intriguing. Baab quickly points out that, for whatever reason, various generations seem to fit into specific types. The generation from 1910-1930, that were involved in WWII and were raised during a time of hard work and duty, display STJ characteristics. Whereas the Baby Boomer generation has more of an N feel to it as people valued exploration and envelope pushing, but they retained the J sense of responsibility of the generation before them. Gen X, though, seems to be more perceiving than previous generations. Baab explains, "They are a generation raised on options, more options than most of us who are slightly older can even imagine. MTV and the Internet illustrate the plethora of possibilities that have shaped this generation." Baab believes that most congregations carry a J flavor, which could be one reason why Generation Xers don't feel comfortable in church. She encourages congregations to have more spontaneity and openness "without sacrificing that which is important to [you]." I particularly liked this bit, "One Presbyterian church with a high percentage of Generation X attenders is known in its presbytery as 'the barefoot church' because one 20-something fellow occasionally come to church barefoot." 

"Some conflict arises because we don't understand differences between ourselves and other.... We move to another level of misunderstanding when we believe that Kyle is being malicious or deliberately insensitive. This can lead to painful and damaging conflict."

I think this is particularly true. Since I've studied personality types, I generally have a sense of conflict through that lens. There are many times in a conflict when I hear one person say incredibly nasty things about the other person, as though the other person is being deliberately selfish or rude. But since I see where the other person is coming from through the lens of type, I often see just the opposite. Though you may hear them as being selfish, if you think through what it is they're actually saying, you'd realize that the reality is that they're trying to do something that will help and benefit everyone. (Yes, I do have a specific very acrimonious conflict in mind that happened among parents in my girls' class a few years back. It was heartbreaking to see these parents tear each other apart simply because they refused to take the time to listen and really hear what the other was saying.)

This happens in the church as well. Despite all of the Biblical admonitions to forgive and forebear and love, people see through the lens of their own personality type. Baab continues,

"Type can help us work with others in our congregation by giving us vocabulary and concepts to describe these differences in style. Once we understand them, we can be more gentle and also more assertive in asking that other styles be affirmed and included. This understanding can help us avoid falling into the trap of attributing evil to people when their styles differ from ours, and it can prevent conflict from escalating to damaging levels."

Baab also talked about change within extraverted vs. introverted congregations. Her descriptions of introverted congregations fit our church incredibly well. (We only have a couple extraverts in our congregation.) It surprised me to consider that change would happen differently, though, based on whether the congregation was introverted or extraverted. That was a neat little insight. 

There are three books on type that I'm interested in reading next. One is the book, Gifts Differing, by Isabel Briggs Myers and Peter B. Myers. (Isabel Briggs Myers helped to develop the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, so reading this book would be going to the source.) The second is Beside Ourselves: Our HIdden Personalities in Everyday Life, by Naomi Quenk. I want to explore this whole inferior function idea more, which is what this book gets into. And the last has to do with parenting styles -- The M.O.M.S. Handbook: Understanding Your Personality Type in Mothering. Baab mentions that this book described her parenting style to a tee and they hadn't even interviewed her for the book.