For as long as I have been studying psychology, the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Test has been used as a sort of staple in psychology circles for "knowing thyself." I tend not to put too much stock in these sorts of tests, the validity is questionable and a person can, after taking it once, often manipulate the questions to center up a bit more in order to end up where they want to be described. Nevertheless, I have found the Myers-Briggs to be the most informative and revealing of the personality tests I have taken to date. It's also the one that has felt the most accurate and been the most helpful in helping me identify strengths and weaknesses.
My test results have been consistent over 20+ years, with
only slight fluctuations in the Thinking/Feeling Component. I am a
predominately Introverted,
significantly Intuitive, a balanced Thinker/Feeler, and a highly imbalanced
and potentially dangerous Perceptive.
What does any of that mean for a pastor or a congregation?
Very simply, it breaks down like this:
ENERGY -- An extrovert gains energy when
conversing with others, participating in activities, and being in a large
crowd. As an introvert, I lose energy in these environments and can quickly
become drained in settings with more than three or four people. I am energized
by more the internal world of ideas and emotions.
ATTENTION -- A sensing person always has a
keen eye on the facts immediately around them. They perceive the world in a
mostly literal way and are the best at seeing the factual details of any given
situation. As an intuitive, I tend to pay more attention to concepts,
imagination, and connections rather than the literal things around me and all
their intricacies. I tend not to look at the facts, but through them.
DECISONS -- Very simply, thinkers decide with
their head and feelers decide with their heart. I will most often make
decisions with both my heart and my head, even though I almost always test on
these things as a "Feeler." The difference is very minor, so much so
that I could technically go either way. It's probably best to say I try to think
through my emotions when I decide, rather than feeling my way through my
thoughts.
LIFESTYLE / WORKSTYLE -- People who use
"Judgment" to determine their lifestyle or work-style doesn't mean
anything bad about judging people. It means that they prefer to gather facts,
make decisions, and lead a planned, organized, well-thought-out life. It is an
admirable way to be wired up! Perceptive types like to take life as it comes,
stay spontaneous, unplanned, and flexible. They are the
"go-with-the-flow" types. I am highly unbalanced toward Perception
and have never had a "J" score at all, never answered even one
question with a "J" response in 20+ years. That's a potentially dangerous imbalance.
A classic INFP is described this way in most of the literature:
“INFPs present a calm and serene face to the world, and can seem shy, even
distant around others. But inside they’re anything but serene, having a
capacity for personal caring rarely found in the other types. INFPs care deeply
about the inner life of a few special persons, or about a favorite cause in the
world at large. And their great passion is to heal the conflicts that trouble
individuals, or that divide groups, and thus to bring wholeness, or health, to
themselves, their loved ones, and their community.
INFPs have a profound sense of Idealism that comes from a strong personal
sense of right and wrong. They conceive of the world as an ethical, honorable
place, full of wondrous possibilities, beauty, and potential goods. In fact, to
understand INFPs, we must understand that their deep commitment to the positive
and the good is almost boundless and selfless, inspiring them to make
extraordinary sacrifices for someone or something they believe in. Set off from
the rest of humanity by their privacy and scarcity (only 1% of the population),
the INFP can often feel even more isolated in the purity of their idealism.
Fiercely committed to the positive
and the good and possessing an uncanny vision for spotting good and evil, INFP's tend to easily see the evil in themselves more frequently than other types. As a result, they can
often come to develop a fascination with the profane, seeking to understand it completely.
Because the INFP is drawn
toward the sacred, they are continuously on the lookout for the wickedness that
lurks within them and are often driven to acts of self-sacrifice, shame, and other punitive measures that habitually take in atonement for their own evils - whether those evils are real or imagined. Others seldom detect this
inner turmoil, however, for the struggle between good and evil is within and
the INFP does not feel compelled to make the issue public.
For INFPs, their home is their castle. As parents, they are fierce in
protection of home and family and are devoted to the welfare of family members.
They have a strong capacity for devotion, sympathy, and adaptability in their
relationships, and thus are easy to live with. The almost preconscious conviction that
pleasure must be paid for with pain can cause a sense of uneasiness in the
family system of an INFP, who may transmit an air of being ever vigilant
against invasion.
In the routine rituals of daily living, INFPs tend to be compliant and may
even prefer having decisions made on their behalf, until their value system is
violated. Then INFPs dig in their heels and will not budge from ideals. Life
with an INFP will go gently along for long periods, until an ideal is struck
and violated. Then an INFP will resist and insist.
At work, INFPs are adaptable, welcome new ideas and new information, are
patient with complicated situations, but impatient with routine details. INFPs
are keenly aware of people and their feelings, and relate well with most
others. Because of their deep-seated reserve, however, they can work quite
happily alone. When making decisions, INFPs follow their heart not their head,
which means they can make errors of fact, but seldom of feeling. They have a
natural interest in scholarly activities and demonstrate, like the other
Idealists, a remarkable facility with language. They have a gift for
interpreting stories, as well as for creating them, and thus often write in
lyric, poetic fashion. Frequently they hear a call to go forth into the world
and help others, a call they seem ready to answer, even if they must sacrifice
their own comfort.”
And there you have it, almost everything that's good and bad
about an INFP pastor is neatly summed up in a few paragraphs. Visionary, sacrificially
devoted, and inwardly passionate about a few select causes and people reveal
the INFP to be a loving, loyal pastor -- even if those strengths are not
readily apparent in his or her introversion.
On the downside however, the INFP pastor will often let
details slip, seek privacy when togetherness is needed, and can quickly become a
radical, even fanatical crusader when an ideal is violated. Wrapped up in all the negatives, is the
daunting reality that an INFP will always be their own worst critic, acutely
tuned in to the smallest inklings of failure, selfishness, or greed in
themselves. While we all do this to ourselves at times, the INFP has a
propensity to take it to much deeper, personal levels.
Tips for congregations that have an INFP pastor:
·
Celebrate
your pastor's loyalty, sacrifice, and his commitment to the job.
·
Recognize
your pastor's tendency to totally lose herself in the causes and the people to
whom she feels obligated -- to the point of even making un-reasonable
self-sacrifices that effect health and financial well-being.
·
In
recognizing the above, protect your pastor. When he says that he's not
over-worked, listen for the unspoken queues of a Crusader who'd never admit to
being tired when his highest ideals are on the line. When she says she doesn't
need a raise, or care about the money, believe her -- but don't let her pour
out her soul every week for a fast-food wage.
·
Study
your pastor's passions and throw yourself behind those passions with him/her.
The solidarity and sharing of vision will mean more to an INFP that most other personality types.
·
Allow
your pastor to work alone as needed. An INFP is the epitome of a perfectionist in this regard:
We are the sort who can walk past a stain on the rug for months without seeing
it, but yet we will meticulously wipe every speck of dust off a favorite book and will work without food or sleep to protect the things we hold dear. If
it matters to an INFP, you can almost always bet that it will be done right and with unmatched precision.
When the INFP pastor is in the zone, he or she takes great care to produce incredibly
detailed, well-thought-out work -- but this often requires that distractions be
held to a minimum.
·
Understand
that regardless of the face your pastor may present to the world every Sunday,
beneath that calm, serene exterior, is a rich emotional life. One that is
likely battling demons in his or her soul that don't even exist.
·
Realize
that occasionally, your pastor will lead a charge against windmills, while
insisting they are dragons. Lovingly remind him or her, that God is fully
capable of choosing the right battles at the right times. Remind them that playing "knight in shining armor" only works when God is in the midst of their activities. We INFP believers will sometimes forget these things and wildly charge against a perceived threat.
·
Finally,
understand your pastor's relentless self-scrutiny, fears, and insecurities. It
is likely that whatever complaint you might have against your INFP pastor, he or she
has already lost countless hours of sleep worrying about it. Always couple your
view of the problem with a potential solution.... and above all, stay positive.
The INFP pastor is a true gift to a congregation and a
community. Love them and treat them so, because you can bet every free calorie
they have to burn is applied to loving and praying for the church they
hold so dear.
