Personality Crisis
Personality, Spirituality and a Brave New World of Understanding
The techniques which we use to begin to understand ourselves are many and varied. The most popular of these, however, is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). It is a framework which helps us to differentiate between personality types by assessing how we interact with the world. The Careers Service uses it as an indicator of the kind of career people might prefer, what kind of working environment and so on. It is also used in exploring leadership and teamwork, in industry, in churches and other organisations. In recent years, much work has been done using the MBTI to explore the relationship between personality and spirituality — how we pray and worship, and how we explore, understand and express our faith.
The MBTI has four components: where we get our energy and inspiration from, how we receive information about the world, how we process that information, and how we like to organize our lifestlye. Thus there are four separate axes, and the MBTI theory is that people have a preferred way of functioning for each of them. The preferences for each of these have technical terms: Extrovert (E) or Introvert (I), Sensing (S) or iNtuition (N), Thinking (T) or Feeling (F), and Judging (J) or Perceiving (P). Combining these produces sixteen different combinations: ESTP, INFJ and so on. Each person can find their own combination, which is their personality type (although some are borderline between more than one). The MBTI describes in detail the characteristics of these different personality types, with what can be surprising accuracy. For example, as an ENFJ I am likely to speak first and think afterwards, which anyone who knows me will verify!
Using personality models such as the MBTI to examine faith and spirituality must be conducted with a few health warnings. One of these is the idea that we are trying to classify people, and take away their God-given individuality. Christianity is not about putting people into boxes; if anything, it is about releasing people from them. Stereotyping, prejudice and judging others are incompatible with Christian witness. We all have our personal hang-ups and prejudices, but it is important for the Christian to recognise MBTI does not classify any one personality type as better than another, which Christians can encourage as a positive way of affirming our different gifts and our individuality. It also encourages a sensitivity towards the way in which different people function… as a friend of mine said recently, God isn’t interested in ‘identikit Christians’. We need to be aware, as Jesus was, that people are different and that what one person may find helpful, encouraging or appealing, the next person may find frightening, boring or irrelevant. This has implications for all sorts of areas of Christian life, including evangelism. The Gospel can be presented in a variety of different ways without compromising its truth; if we fail to recognise this we are likely to reach only those who share our personality type and way of understanding the world.
The MBTI can offer tremendous insight into our personal and collective spirituality. For example, Christians with a preference for Sensing like to receive information through their senses. They tend to appreciate what they see and hear in worship, they like a simple, straightforward understanding of Christianity which works out in practical ways. On the other hand, those with a preference for iNtuition rely on instinct and imagination to gain information. Their spirituality prefers to take the bigger picture, enjoying the mystery and wonder of God; they find the imagery and symbolism of John’s Gospel appealing. People with a Feeling preference make decisions based on how they will affect people, and are concerned with harmony in relationships. They often relate well to Luke’s Gospel, appreciating the emphasis on love, forgiveness and reconciliation. People with a Thinking preference, however, like to be objective and make decisions by reasoning. These Christians have a firm and logical spirituality, enjoying the intellectual challenges of theology.
This approach is one way of understanding why Christian spirituality is so diverse. I have always found it difficult to pray on my own; I just can’t seem to concentrate. This has been a source of difficulty and embarrassment — surely private prayer is one of the foundations of a healthy relationship with God. I have watched my fellow Christians in frustration and anxiety, thinking that there was something wrong with me and my faith. It has been a huge relief to learn that I am not the only person who struggles with this, and that others who share my ENFJ type encounter similar problems. Understanding how I function has meant I can look for ways of improving things — one suggested prayer aid is using a journal.
In some ways I have stopped forcing myself into a mould which I don’t fit. I don’t believe that Christians should make life as easy as possible for ourselves, but it makes sense to use the gifts and personality God gives us in constructive ways. Even from very early on in my Christian life I have felt comfortable praying with other people, whether we are praying out loud, collectively or in silence. In fact, some of my most powerful experiences of prayer have been as part of my Christian Union small group. I am extremely grateful to one friend who is always ready to drop whatever he is doing (being a spontaneous type) and come and sit and pray with me in silence when I just can’t get my head around my prayers.
The MBTI points out some serious challenges for the church. Threequarters of the population have a preference for Sensing, but over half the people in churches have a preference for iNtuition. This means that the way our churches worship may be completely unhelpful and irrelevant to the majority of people. Appreciating this may encourage us to use more diverse forms of worship, such as by looking to the Celtic or Eastern Orthodox traditions for inspiration. It is estimated that about half of the population have a preference for Feeling, but in churches they outnumber those with Thinking preference by three to one. Unless we recognise and encourage diversity of spirituality, we risk making Christianity inaccessible to vast numbers of people.