Introverts in the Church of Jesus Christ | An Interview with Adam McHugh

Leading Saints Podcast

This is a rebroadcast. The episode originally ran in March 2018.

Adam McHugh is an author, former hospice chaplain, spiritual director, and minister, and now a wine tour guide and sommelier. The author of Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture, he is an ordained Presbyterian minister, having earned a Masters of Divinity and Masters of Theology in Greek New Testament from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is also the author of The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction. Since this interview was recorded he has written a memoir, Blood from a Stone. Adam lives in California’s Santa Ynez Valley, and may be the only person published in both Psychology Today and Wine Enthusiast.

Links

Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture
The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction
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Highlights

4:30 Becoming an ordained minister

7:30 What led to writing Introverts in the Church

10:50 Explanation of introversion and extroversion

16:00 Problems that introverts experience at church

19:00 Understanding the discomfort of personal vulnerability and sharing beliefs as an expression of faith

22:00 Introverts generally prefer depth over breadth

24:00 The power of listening: experience at a hospital

30:00 Introverts and small talk

34:00 How introverts approach dealing with conflict and decisions

40:00 Silence, reverence, and the internal experience compared to active social environments

45:20 Cultural clash of introvert and extrovert leaders: overcoming stereotypes and encouraging introverts to be leaders

48:50 Reaching out to invite introverts to participate

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