Introverts don't naturally seek people out.
Most introverts who are in ministry have the ability to do what they need to do to care for others, whether it's being available on a Sunday morning to talk to people, lead a parent meeting, or hang out with lots of students during an event. However, we don't naturally seek people out. Yes, a chunk of a pastor's time needs to be in an office or Starbucks doing lesson and sermon prep, administrative tasks, and planning the next few months of ministry. However, it can be hard for us to take the initiative required to check in on people, call up a parent who's struggling to set up a breakfast appointment, or get out of our office and just be with people.
Introverts don't always know how to serve extroverted teenagers.
Even when I was a teenager, I didn't usually want to hang out with large groups of people. Because of that, I big blind spot for me is creating programming and events that serve extroverted students well. I'm learning how to lean on extroverts on our team to help us do this well, but I know it's something I need to work on.
Introverts can seem uncaring.
Most of the introverts I know have huge hearts, and speaking for myself, I love what I do when it comes to pouring myself and my life into serving teenagers in our church and community. However, when a lot relational ministry causes our gas tank to run a little low, people can interpret that in a number a negative ways, including that we just don't want to be with that person or we don't really care. It can be tough, but introverts need to learn how to work through some of the times of highly relational ministry when we are required to talk to a lot of people in a short amount of time. By all means, take some time to recharge, but ministry is about loving Jesus by loving people, and there will times when we just have to be around a lot of people at once--even if it's not our favorite thing.
QUESTION: What do you see are some weaknesses of being an introverted youth pastor?
