The psychological type profile of young adult members of the Student Christian Movement compared with church congregations

Psychological type theory and temperament theory provide lenses through which the distinctive appeal of different forms of Christian worship may be interpreted. Studies of regular Sunday congregations in Anglican churches in England and Wales find strong representation of sensing types and feeling types and of the Epimethean Temperament. In order to explore whether the very distinctive provision of cathedral carol services attracted a different psychological profile among those who attended, 193 individuals attending Christmas carol services at Bangor Cathedral completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales. The data demonstrated that, compared with congregations attending Sunday services at Anglican churches, the carol service attracted significantly higher proportions of intuitive types, of thinking types, and of the Promethean Temperament.

Listening to the motivations reported by individuals for ceasing church attendance and becoming church leavers, Francis and Richter identified high on the list the sense of “not fitting in”. Drawing on psychological type theory, several recent studies have documented the way in which some psychological types are over-represented in church congregations and other psychological types are under-represented. Bringing these two observations together, the present study tested the hypothesis that church congregations have created type-alike communities within which individuals displaying the opposite type preferences are more likely to feel marginalised and to display lower levels of satisfaction with the congregations they attend. Data were provided by 1867 churchgoers who completed a measure of psychological type, together with measures of frequency of attendance and congregational satisfaction. These data confirmed that congregations were weighted towards preferences for introversion, sensing, feeling and judging, and that individuals displaying the opposite preferences (especially intuition, thinking and perceiving) recorded lower levels of congregational satisfaction. The implications of these findings are discussed for promoting congregational retention by enhancing awareness of psychological type preferences among those who attend.

This chapter examines the relationship between the ministry expectations experienced by newly ordained clergy in the Church of England and both their personal psychological type profile and the psychological type profile of the training incumbent alongside whom they were apprenticed to learn the practice of ministry. The aim of the chapter is to test the power of psychological type theory to illuminate a crucial aspect of the way in which Anglican clergy are generally trained for parish ministry. It develops an index of training expectations based on psychological type theory and then examines the relationship between the curates' perceptions of their expectations and both their own psychological type profile and the psychological type profile of their training incumbent. The chapter advances the empirical assessment and psychological understanding of the experience of those engaged in the apprenticeship model of ministry in the early years after ordination in two ways. Keywords: Anglican clergy; apprenticeship model; Church of England; psychological type profile; training incumbent

The present study draws on psychological type theory and psychological temperament theory to test the extent to which Bishop Barron’s ministry shaped by the Word on Fire Institute is reaching people less effectively reached by Catholic congregations. Data provided by 168 male and 292 female participants attending Bishop Barron’s day conference in central London during February 2023, who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales, demonstrated that this event attracted significantly higher proportions of intuitive types and of thinking types, compared with Catholic churchgoers. However, like Catholic congregations, extraverts and perceiving types remained under-represented among the followers of Bishop Barron. The implications of these findings are discussed for the ongoing nurture of those attracted to Bishop Barron alongside inherited congregations.

One of the key intentions of fresh expressions of church is to reach the kind of people inherited church find it hard to reach. Psychological type profiling of church congregations has demonstrated that Anglican churches have particular difficulty in reaching those whose Jungian judging preference is for thinking rather than for feeling. Studies that have explored the psychological type profile of participants within fresh expressions suggest that they do not significantly differ from inherited congregations in terms of reaching thinking types. Two previous studies, however, have reported higher proportions of thinking types attending cathedral carol services. The present study among 441 individuals attending the Holly Bough service in Liverpool Cathedral also found a higher proportion of thinking types among the participants. These findings suggest that cathedral carol services may be functioning as fresh expressions of church in a significant way. Contribution: Situated within the science of cathedral studies, rooted in psychological type theory, and drawing on data from 441 attendees at the Holly Bough service, this study demonstrates that cathedral services at Christmas are more successful than either inherited church or fresh expressions of church in reaching thinking types.

Drawing on psychological type theory and temperament theory as operationalised by the Francis Psychological Type Scales, this study compares the profiles of 53 non-stipendiary clergy and 77 stipendiary clergy serving with the same Diocese of the Church of England. The data confirm significant differences between the two groups. The non-stipendiary clergy comprise a significantly higher proportion of sensing types (70% compared with 33%) and a significantly higher proportion of judging types (93% compared with 73%). In terms of temperament theory, these differences translate into a significantly higher proportion of the Guardian Temperament (66% compared with 31%). As the Church of England increasingly relies on self-supporting ministry, the implications of the changing psychological type and temperament of ordained leaders is discussed. Here is a leadership more inclined to conserve the status quo than to pioneer new initiatives and fresh expressions of church within a changing environment.

Since 1978, some of the key members of the “Bailey school of implicit religion,” along, always, with some first-timers, have congregated for a weekend conference during May at Denton Hall, to practise the study of implicit religion and to shape and discuss the findings of their research within that field. This paper argues that they can be conceptualized as themselves comprising some sort of a religious group, or as we might call it, a church. Drawing on psychological type theory to provide a theoretical framework and empirical methodology through which different religious expressions can be profiled, this study compares the psychological type profile of 31 members of the “church” of Implicit Religion with data from previous studies reporting the psychological type profile of 327 Anglican churchgoers and of 75 practising British Druids. All three of these varied traditions attract more introverts than extraverts and more judging types than perceiving types. While both Anglican congregations and Druidic festivals attract more feeling types than thinking types, the “church” of Implicit Religion is a church for thinking types. While Anglican congregations attract more sensing types than intuitive types, both Druidic festivals and the “church” of Implicit Religion provide a context for intuitive types. The dichotomous preferences within the “church” of Implicit Religion favour introversion (71%), intuition (77%), thinking (65%), and judging (74%). Indeed the combined INTJ preference accounts for 32% of the participants at the “Church of Implicit Religion”, compared with 2% of Anglican churchgoers, 11% of practising British Druids, and 1.4% of the British population. The distinctiveness of this INTJ profile may help to account for the rich diversity and strong individuality within the Church of Implicit Religion.

Some of the most stressful aspects of the parish ministry involve interpersonal situations. Because psychological type theory is a tool for understanding individual differences in the way people perceive the world and interact with others, it may be effective in helping clergy deal with interpersonal stress, both managing their own stress and helping their congregations deal with differences more effectively. Francis et al. (2008) found that stress among Presbyterian clergy was related to psychological type, with introverts more stressed than extraverts. The Francis study was replicated and expanded with 127 Reformed Church in America clergy in the metropolitan New York area, 42 % of all parish clergy, participating. Clergy completed an on-line or paper survey containing questions on 30 specific possible stressors in parish ministry that were grouped to create eight scales, as well as some questions on role strain, the Francis Burnout Inventory, the Francis Psychological Type Scales, and Cohen’s 4-item Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-4). The largest area of stress involved interpersonal issues, including conflict, with administrative issues and difficulty of finding resources for ministry and building maintenance also reported as stressful. The Psychological Type profile and scores on the Emotional Exhaustion and Satisfaction in Ministry Scales of the Francis Burnout Inventory were similar to those of the Presbyterian sample. Overall, both introverts and perceivers reported higher stress than Extraverts and Judgers. Almost all of those with a dominant function of IF frequently thought about leaving

Psychological type theory, originally proposed by Carl Jung and developed by instruments like the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator, the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, and the Francis Psychological Type Scales, provides a rich theoretical framework and a useful practical guide within which to understand and to promote religious and spiritual learning. This chapter defines and critiques psychological type theory, describes and evaluates measures of psychological type, reviews the growing body of research evidence linking psychological type with individual differences in religious and spiritual learning, and evaluates the relevance of the research literature for practice and application.

This study explored the extent to which an educational debrief strategy informed by Carl Jung’s psychological type theory – that peoples’ innate personalities influence the way they process information – might contribute to the effectiveness of debriefing Christian experiential learning activities in a young adult ministry in Singapore. Drawing on the discourses on experiential learning, debrief and type, the SNFT Debrief was developed and implemented across two action research cycles with seven participants. Findings indicate that the SNFT Debrief has the potential to enhance learning and Christian faith formation in young adults, as it helped the participants to be mentally engaged and to use their preferred and non-preferred psychological functions during the debrief.

Studies using psychological type theory have found that some churches attract people with types that are underrepresented in many churches. In this study, psychological type profiles of 1,034 worshipers were collected from 33 mainline congregations in the United States using the Francis Psychological Type Scales. Established churches were compared with Anglican churches in the United Kingdom; churches started since 2006 were compared with established ones and also with Fresh Expression churches in the United Kingdom. Type and temperament profiles of established churches were similar to each other. New churches differed markedly from established ones, with fewer worshipers with Epithemean temperaments, and more worshipers preferring intuition and perceiving. The Promethean temperament was more common among Fresh Expressions churches than among new Reformed churches. Otherwise the types and temperaments were similar. These results suggest that characteristics of new churches attract people with types that are not commonly found in established churches.

This study responds to the challenge offered by Meunier (2012) to explore how psychological type theory and measurement may assist churches in the search for an appropriate leader (rector) by taking into account the psychological type characteristics of the church. A case study is provided from one Anglican congregation in England (N = 76), the members of which completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales during the course of a normal Sunday service. The overall profile of these 76 individuals demonstrated preferences for extraversion, sensing, feeling, and judging (ESFJ). The implications of this ESFJ profile are discussed for leadership expectations.

This study draws on psychological type theory that has its origins in the work of Carl Jung to explore the psychological profile of Salvation Army officers serving within the UK. Data provided on the Francis Psychological Type Scales by 269 female officers and by 165 male officers draw attention to the distinctive psychological characteristics of these officers and to the ways in which they differ from the population of the UK as a whole. The female officers show clear preference for introversion (68%), sensing (75%), feeling (66%), and judging (86%). The male officers show clear preference for introversion (76%), sensing (62%), thinking (60%), and judging (86%). This study discusses the strengths brought to active ministry by these psychological characteristics, but also draws attention to the weaknesses and vulnerabilities.

Recent discussion and research has pointed to the changing functions of archdeacons within the Church of England as the role has become expanded to combine both the traditional statutory functions with flexible and visionary leadership skills within a changing church. This study draws on data collected in 2009 from 186 active and retired male archdeacons in order to assess the psychological profile established by that time. Compared with the psychological profile of 626 clergymen, male archdeacons were much more likely to prefer the SJ temperament (60 per cent compared with 31 per cent), a temperament ideally suited for effective administration of the statutory functions. As a consequence, preference for intuition was lower among male archdeacons (38 per cent compared with 62 per cent), as was preference for perceiving (9 per cent compared with 32 per cent), qualities core for flexibility and visionary leadership.

This chapter presents a study, that draws on two theoretical frameworks provided by the theology of individual differences and by the Jungian notion of psychological type. Renewed interest in the application of psychological type theory and empirical research among church leaders and clergy in the UK from across diverse traditions has drawn attention to three main findings: the distinctive psychological type profile of clergy compared with the general population norms; the differences in psychological type profile between clergymen and clergywomen; and the differences in psychological type profile between Christian denominations. Building on this tradition, the present study discusses the psychological type profiles of 561 clergy serving in The Presbyterian Church (USA) who completed the Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS). Attention is given to those areas of ministry which may prove to be particularly difficult or draining for clergy who display these psychological preferences. Keywords: Christian denominations; clergymen; clergywomen; Francis Psychological Type Scales (FPTS); Jungian notion; Presbyterian Church