I read an article last week that talked about the method behind the madness of those scam e-mails we get. As the article summary says, “An analysis from Microsoft Research suggests that Nigerian scammers need to sound as ridiculous as possible, so that only the most gullible will reply to them.” Interesting.
Somehow, my mind connected that with a study that Flavil Yeakley did years ago, an in depth study of the Boston Movement done by invitation of Kip McKean and staff. One of the most helpful parts of the study, in my opinion, was a look at what other churches could learn from the methods being used in Boston. Among other things, Yeakley pointed out that the outreach methods used by the Boston group were much more likely to appeal to extroverts, whereas the methods used by traditional churches of Christ tended to appeal to introverts.
Those two unrelated bits of information swirled in my brain and got me thinking about evangelism and preaching. Specifically, I was thinking about how a certain kind of person is reached by a certain kind of teaching and, conversely, different people are attracted to different teaching styles. That’s hardly big news, yet it would explain the gulf that tends to grow up in every movement between “traditionalists” and “progressives.”
Does that make sense? I could throw out some examples that come to my mind, but I’d rather hear yours. Can you think of ways in which this would be true? If it is, then how do we achieve unity in spite of this trend?
What yu wrote makes sense to me. Several books and articles have been written lately arguing that extroversion is praised in our culture and introversion is condemned. However, both types of people are needed. And, there is some evidence that intoversion and extroversion have biological and genetic origins. An interesting point is that introverts are easily over stimulated–meaning too much noise and people can make them nervous. I am highly introverted– have taken psychological tests that confirm it. Thus, I tend to like older sedate songs. I don’t like preachers who tell me to get up and greet people, et cetera. These are my personal preferences and I have no problem with people who like to sing lively, jumpy songs and greet everyone in a 5 mile radius. I just wish extroverted types wouldn’t tell me that I have “no joy” as several have. I do have joy. I just experience and express it in a different way. I usually experience jy when the preacher says something that causes me to think, “I’ve never thought of it that way before.”
“Different strokes for different folks!”
Jesus used different methods for different people He encountered. So, why should we expect everyone to react the same way to the same message? I’ve seen people ready to walk away from a study of the Scriptures with one person’s approach – and then be led into acceptance of the gospel when another person “took over” the study.
Let’s face it, though. Very few people can, as Paul said he did, “become all things to all men” to be able to win some to the cause of Christ. Most of us are somewhat “bound” by the personality that we have.
That is one reason I like to see more than one teacher/preacher in a church. Much of my life, I have taught Bible classes on Sunday and Wednesday, preached Sunday morning and evening, and taught special classes/evangelistic classes during the week. In some of the congregations where I preached, I was the only voice heard all week by a high percentage of the people involved. I have never considered that healthy. When a person has difficulty grasping a concept, it often helps to have a different teacher “explain” the principle in a different way that the person can grasp. Multiple teachers can also help keep things more balanced – as each person inevitably has a different locus of emphasis.
While all should emphasize Jesus, we will still speak of Him in different ways – and “difference” does not of necessity mean “one of us must be wrong.” There is so much depth in Jesus that none of us can bring it all to the surface. You will see things that I never would have – without you to help me. The reverse of this is also true. That is why we need each other and why we need multiple teachers/preachers.
This is something that few small congregations have, but is something we need to attempt, at the very least, to overcome.