When Dr. Winter taught us about the various Levels of Cross Cultural Communication I was struck by how hard it is to communicate accurately and positively in my own family. I did not need to fly across salt water to discover the challenges of miscommunication. I had seen it with my parents, brothers, wife, and children. It is the cause of most angry conflicts and divorces in marriages as well as the cause as most church splits.
Karen and I attended a conference back in 1974 that introduced us to the Myers-Briggs Personality Preference Self-Assessment. (As a Therapist I cannot call it a Test.) The MBTI allows people to check preferences for things like Extroversion or Introversion, Structured or Spontaneous, etc. As a result we came back to CHPC and started asking friends to use the preference check list so we could discuss our similarities and differences. It was a blast!
When we developed the Teleios Wholeness Center at CHPC we used the MBTI to foster better interpersonal communication between and among our Lay Helpers and the people that came to Teleios for prayer. We discovered that knowing people had different Temperaments made communication easier and understanding faster.
Gary:ENTP/J
Karen:ISFP
Julie: INFJ
Tim: ENTP/J
As I aged I was able to develop a stronger J Structure because being High P Spontaneous does not help me get things done fast.
Knowing these tendencies helped us communicate better but not perfectly. Knowing that Introverts can be drained when with people and Extroverts can get energized by others, helped us understand and reduce miscommunication and blaming.
Harmony at home and church will pay off big time in outreach, evangelism, church growth, and reducing anger and judgmentalism. Get our equipping materials to help you grow.
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