Abstract – Although over half of the United Kingdom population are extraverts, church congregations are generally weighted toward introverts. In this study 27 of the 30 volunteer workers in a rural Christian charity shop (who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales) were extraverts. Other rural churches are encouraged to find similar opportunities for extraverts to express themselves.
Introduction
A series of recent studies has employed Jungian psychological type theory (Jung, 1971), as operationalized through the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (Myers and McCaulley, 1985), the Keirsey Temperament Sorter (Keirsey and Bates, 1978) and the Francis Psychological Type Scales (Francis, 2005), to profile those engaged in Christian ministry in the United Kingdom. These studies have generally revealed preferences for introversion, sensing, feeling and judging (ISFJ) as exemplified by Francis, Payne and Jones (2001) and Francis and Payne (2002) among male Anglican clergy in Wales. A more limited number of studies has extended this research tradition to profile churchgoers in the United Kingdom. These studies have also generally revealed preferences for introversion, sensing, feeling and judging (ISFJ) as exemplified by Craig, Francis, Bailey and Robbins (2003), Francis, Duncan, Craig and Luffman (2004) and Craig (2005).
These main preferences for SFJ are explicable in terms of psychological type theory. Individuals who display both sensing and judging preferences tend to prefer the conventional and to be guardians of the traditional. Many Christian churches provide the ideal framework for such a perspective. Individuals who display a feeling preference tend to place a high priority on personal and interpersonal values. The Christian gospel, with its emphasis on personal and social values, is ideally placed to nurture such a perspective.