Introverts in the Church, part 3

[Third post in a series on the book Introverts in the Church.]


The following is taken from chapter 5, Introverted Community and Relationships.

Page 88: It's in community that we learn how to love, how to server, how to listen, how to forgive.

So we introverts need to remember there's a reason we need to get involved and not always sit on the fringes. Like it or not, Christianity is a team religion.

Page 92: Many introverts will relate to a scenario like the following. An introverted woman spends hours contemplating a thought or observing a pattern in her life. She turns it over in her mind until it becomes a companion to her and then decides to share it in the context of a small group. When she musters up the courage to voice it, trembling as she puts words to this precious inner stirring, someone in the group cuts her off when she pauses in the middle, her thought still building steam. This person quickly tells her that she shouldn't feel the way she does or else counters with a story of her own, which only tangentially relates to what the introvert was saying. Nouwen's words perfectly capture the sense of personal violation and emptiness: "Often we come home from a sharing session with a feeling that something precious has been taken away from us or that holy ground has been trodden upon."

Yes, yes, yes, yes! This happens to me all the time, especially in social situations. Happens to Les, too. One of the reasons introverts end up being quieter than most is because we end up being trained to be from interactions like the above.