This is part 2 of a series based on an article by author MIKE BECHTLE, which was published in the Mar/April and May/June 2010 issues of FIRST! MIKE BECHTLE continues:
Brett is an extrovert. He gets energized in a large group, and feels drained when he spends too much time alone. He’s action-oriented and learns by doing. He thinks out loud, and makes decisions easily. Brett’s pattern is “act-think-act.”
Jill is an introvert. She doesn’t mind being in a group, but finds it draining after awhile. She recharges by being alone. She’s thought-oriented and learns by watching. She thinks best when she’s alone and needs time to make decisions. Jill’s pattern is “think-act-think.”
Which is better for evangelism? Both.
Photo by Atif Gulzar
Don’t beat yourself up
It used to bother me that I could come up with great answers for people’s questions about 30 minutes after the conversation was over. I’d beat myself up thinking, “Why didn’t I say such-and-such?” I envied extroverts who could think quickly in a conversation.
Introverts might take a while to formulate their answers, but an answer will be well thought-out and sensitive. Just because we can’t think of the best response right at that moment doesn’t mean we’ve failed.
It means saying, “That’s a great question. I’ll have to think about it. Give me a day or so, and I’ll email you my thoughts.”
Advantages of introverts
Introverts have some real advantages in evangelism:
They care what people think, so they’ll be sensitive in their approach to others.
They recognize their inability to reach people through an outgoing approach, so they’re more aware of their dependence on God to work through them.
As fishers of men, they see themselves as bait rather than the hook.
Quiet people who think deeply can reach other quiet people who think deeply (the ones who are turned off by a hard-sell approach).
They have the patience to let God use them in reaching another person over a long period of time, rather than focusing on an immediate decision.
They might reach fewer people but they build deeper relationships with them.
PART 3 of this article—Strategies from Scripture – will be in our next post.
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If you missed Part 1, you can read Evangelism for Introverts here.
MIKE BECHTLE is the author of Evangelism for the Rest of Us: Sharing Christ Within Your Personality Style (Baker Books), on which this article is based and used by kind permission.
You can visit Mike’s website www.mikebechtle.com for more information and resources.