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The Resilient Pastor: Leading Your Church in a Rapidly Changing World
How can pastors become resilient in a rapidly changing world? Is it possible to love well and lead faithfully? In the wake of crises that have exposed and accelerated massive cultural shifts, we see more clearly the seismic shifts of post-Christendom, the surging storms of a new paganism and pluralism, and the scattered debris of the cultural aftermath.
Drawing on new research from the Barna Group, Scripture, and church history, pastor, theologian, and researcher Glenn Packiam addresses some of the most pressing questions for today's leaders, including
- What is a pastor's calling and vocation?
- How do church leaders regain credibility in a disillusioned world?
- How do church leaders cultivate a deeper life with God?
- How do pastors develop meaningful relationships?
- Why does the church gather in worship? Does it still matter if we do?
- How do we actually make disciples in this new landscape?
- How can we face the challenges to unity presented by nationalism and racism?
- What is the church's mission in the world?
- How do we welcome the presence and power of God in our churches?
This book is for all who are burdened by the challenges facing the church as well as the turbulence of our times. With infographics, enlightening data, and insights from other ministry leaders, this book is the perfect resource for church leaders who want to cultivate resilience in their ministry today.
Drawing on new research from the Barna Group, Scripture, and church history, pastor, theologian, and researcher Glenn Packiam addresses some of the most pressing questions for today's leaders, including
- What is a pastor's calling and vocation?
- How do church leaders regain credibility in a disillusioned world?
- How do church leaders cultivate a deeper life with God?
- How do pastors develop meaningful relationships?
- Why does the church gather in worship? Does it still matter if we do?
- How do we actually make disciples in this new landscape?
- How can we face the challenges to unity presented by nationalism and racism?
- What is the church's mission in the world?
- How do we welcome the presence and power of God in our churches?
This book is for all who are burdened by the challenges facing the church as well as the turbulence of our times. With infographics, enlightening data, and insights from other ministry leaders, this book is the perfect resource for church leaders who want to cultivate resilience in their ministry today.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published February 15, 2022
58 people are currently reading
948 people want to read
About the author
Glenn Packiam
35 books79 followersGlenn Packiam is a the lead pastor of new life DOWNTOWN, an extension of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he also serves on the Executive Team. Having earned a BA in Theological/Historical Studies and a Masters in Management, Glenn is now in the process of completing a Masters of Arts in Theology/Biblical Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
March 13, 2022
“You don’t have to make your mark of leave a legacy. Just steward your season faithfully. No labor in the Lord is ever in vain. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. This is the conviction of the resilient pastor.” - Glenn Packiam
June 16, 2024
Missed the Mark on Resilience
“The Resilient Pastor” falls short of its promise to equip pastors with resilience-building tools. While it touches on relevant topics, it lacks practical guidance for those seeking personal fortitude in ministry.
Disappointing Focus:
Barna Charts Overload: The book leans heavily on Barna’s research, leaving little room for actionable steps.
Resilience Gap: Despite the title, resilience strategies take a backseat to church polity discussions.
Unmet Expectations:
Where’s the Resilience? Pastors hoping for practical advice will be left wanting.
Imbalance: The book’s priorities seem skewed toward academia rather than pastoral realities.
In summary, “The Resilient Pastor” misses the mark by not delivering on its central promise. Pastors seeking genuine resilience tools may need to look elsewhere.
“The Resilient Pastor” falls short of its promise to equip pastors with resilience-building tools. While it touches on relevant topics, it lacks practical guidance for those seeking personal fortitude in ministry.
Disappointing Focus:
Barna Charts Overload: The book leans heavily on Barna’s research, leaving little room for actionable steps.
Resilience Gap: Despite the title, resilience strategies take a backseat to church polity discussions.
Unmet Expectations:
Where’s the Resilience? Pastors hoping for practical advice will be left wanting.
Imbalance: The book’s priorities seem skewed toward academia rather than pastoral realities.
In summary, “The Resilient Pastor” misses the mark by not delivering on its central promise. Pastors seeking genuine resilience tools may need to look elsewhere.
June 23, 2022
I think I liked this book overall and would recommend it. I appreciated all of the data from Barna and showing a good picture of where things are. At times I felt a little discouraged and as though it was just a reiteration of how hard things are in ministry. But he gave practical thoughts and advice. I knocked it down to four stars because toward the end I felt like I was getting a mixed message. That the church should be welcoming and inviting and great, but don’t mess it up by offering too many frills. I think I understood his point but just felt like I was getting a couple of mixed signals. Would recommend it though and think pastors need all the encouragement they can get for being resilient.
June 13, 2022
Worthwhile: thorough, thoughtful, and timely. I appreciate the pastoral heart, sound theology, and hope presented in this book.
January 3, 2023
The author certainly has his personal views and has done some research to present what has been written. However, if you aim to read this book with the hope of finding formulas or methods to become a better pastor, you should probably know that the content of the book does not necessarily go with the title of the book. Although the author attempts to present the book as unbiased, throughout the whole book, the author's personal biases (especially political ones) are visible, and some of what he has presented comes across as justifications or perhaps attacks on those who oppose his views. Also, on certain topics presented, the author contradicts himself.
August 2, 2023
Excellent book, just right for this moment in time, when pastors are dropping like flies due to burnout, moral failure, or simple discouragement.
Packiam is an interesting guy. He comes from the charismatic tradition, but he is also an ordained Anglican priest. He worked under Ted Haggard, so he has experienced a ministry imploding due to the failures of its leader. He also works for the Barna organization, so he has tons of data to share. The data on pastors and on our culture are challenging, indeed. But Packiam doesn't stay there. Instead, he shares practices we can implement to become more resilient.
The first part of the book identifies four challenges for pastors:
Vocation: Do you still feel the call to ministry? There’s a great story in this chapter about the call of St Cuthbert, the man who helped establish Christianity in England. The chapter ends with a good word: When Jesus was restoring Peter to ministry, He didn’t ask, “Do you love preaching?” or “Do you love my movement?” He asked, “Do you love me?” Our first love must be Him, not our church or our ministry or our gifting.
Spirituality: Renewing our relationship with God is key. Two disciplines are essential to this for pastors: solitude and silence.
Relationships: The focus here is on establishing friendships--meaning people you spend time with outside of church. I found this extremely convicting, because at the moment, I don’t have any true friends—and rarely have since entering the ministry! Part of my problem is my fault, of course. I don’t invest the time in seeking and developing friendships, because time is so limited.
Credibility: For most of Western history, pastors have had cultural credibility. During the Middle Ages, clergy were seen as having special spiritual power. Post-Reformation, they were respected as men of learning. In recent times, credibility has come from the size or influence of the churches they lead. Packiam's argument is that today, none of those criteria are impressive to our culture...and that is a good thing. Our authority comes from Jesus, and we regain credibility in culture by giving power away, as Jesus did.
Next, Packiam identifies challenges for the Church in today's culture:
Worship: There are three main paradigms for worship that churches have used. One is the missional paradigm, that says the point of a worship service is to bring sinners to salvation. That’s the tradition I grew up in. Then there’s the formation paradigm, which says the liturgy of the service itself forms our souls. That comes from the Reformed tradition. And then there’s the experience paradigm, which says worship is about experiencing the presence of God. This comes from the charismatic tradition. Packiam’s argument is that worship should be all three.
Formation: Great story on pp. 148-149 about Clarence Jordan and his brother Robert. The point is that a true disciple is willing to get on the cross with Jesus, to actually sacrifice for His sake. Packiam’s version of how we make disciples is threefold: Teaching, practices, and community apprenticeship.
Packiam relates how the Romans saw Christianity as more of a philosophy than a religion. Religion in their world was about good fortune through performing the right rituals. No pagans were able to observe Christians rituals, and Jesus people didn’t seem to have good fortune. Philosophy was about being a good person, living a worthy life, and making society better. Christians set themselves apart not only because their religion was different, but because they had a philosophy that actually worked. That made me wonder: What would it look like for us as Christians in America in 2023 to live differently than our non-Christian neighbors? It would take more than family values, patriotism, hard work—in other words, all the things that we value culturally. Those are also valued by most of our neighbors. So what would it take for us to show Christ in a radical way? I think this is a question we must answer in order to see truly changed lives in our county.
Unity: Here Packiam takes on the rise of Christian Nationalism.
Mission: Our mission is to announce Jesus as King and to anticipate His Kingship over the world by living out Kingdom values.
One more big WOW spot for me was on p. 240, referring to an essay about the moral failure of Hillsong New York’s pastor, Carl Lentz. The author, Ben Sixsmith, referred to Christians who simply add “a twist of Christianity” to their pre-existing cultural commitments. So Jerry Falwell Jr added a twist of Christianity to right-wing, capitalism-as-god. Nadia Bolz-Webber adds a twist of Christianity to the usual left-wing causes. His argument is “If Christianity is simply an add-on, why become a Christian?” The final paragraph is powerful:
“I am not religious, so it is not my place to dictate to Christians what they should and should not believe. Still, if someone has a faith worth following, I feel that their beliefs should make me feel uncomfortable for not doing so. If they share 90 percent of my lifestyle and values, then there is nothing especially inspiring about them. Instead of making me want to become more like them, it looks very much as if they want to become more like me.” Ouch.
A final reminder from Packiam at the very end of the book: When all is said and done, we are all interim pastors. Worrying about "making a mark" or "building a legacy" is fruitless. All that is required is that we serve faithfully. If we keep that in mind, we will stay the course.
Packiam is an interesting guy. He comes from the charismatic tradition, but he is also an ordained Anglican priest. He worked under Ted Haggard, so he has experienced a ministry imploding due to the failures of its leader. He also works for the Barna organization, so he has tons of data to share. The data on pastors and on our culture are challenging, indeed. But Packiam doesn't stay there. Instead, he shares practices we can implement to become more resilient.
The first part of the book identifies four challenges for pastors:
Vocation: Do you still feel the call to ministry? There’s a great story in this chapter about the call of St Cuthbert, the man who helped establish Christianity in England. The chapter ends with a good word: When Jesus was restoring Peter to ministry, He didn’t ask, “Do you love preaching?” or “Do you love my movement?” He asked, “Do you love me?” Our first love must be Him, not our church or our ministry or our gifting.
Spirituality: Renewing our relationship with God is key. Two disciplines are essential to this for pastors: solitude and silence.
Relationships: The focus here is on establishing friendships--meaning people you spend time with outside of church. I found this extremely convicting, because at the moment, I don’t have any true friends—and rarely have since entering the ministry! Part of my problem is my fault, of course. I don’t invest the time in seeking and developing friendships, because time is so limited.
Credibility: For most of Western history, pastors have had cultural credibility. During the Middle Ages, clergy were seen as having special spiritual power. Post-Reformation, they were respected as men of learning. In recent times, credibility has come from the size or influence of the churches they lead. Packiam's argument is that today, none of those criteria are impressive to our culture...and that is a good thing. Our authority comes from Jesus, and we regain credibility in culture by giving power away, as Jesus did.
Next, Packiam identifies challenges for the Church in today's culture:
Worship: There are three main paradigms for worship that churches have used. One is the missional paradigm, that says the point of a worship service is to bring sinners to salvation. That’s the tradition I grew up in. Then there’s the formation paradigm, which says the liturgy of the service itself forms our souls. That comes from the Reformed tradition. And then there’s the experience paradigm, which says worship is about experiencing the presence of God. This comes from the charismatic tradition. Packiam’s argument is that worship should be all three.
Formation: Great story on pp. 148-149 about Clarence Jordan and his brother Robert. The point is that a true disciple is willing to get on the cross with Jesus, to actually sacrifice for His sake. Packiam’s version of how we make disciples is threefold: Teaching, practices, and community apprenticeship.
Packiam relates how the Romans saw Christianity as more of a philosophy than a religion. Religion in their world was about good fortune through performing the right rituals. No pagans were able to observe Christians rituals, and Jesus people didn’t seem to have good fortune. Philosophy was about being a good person, living a worthy life, and making society better. Christians set themselves apart not only because their religion was different, but because they had a philosophy that actually worked. That made me wonder: What would it look like for us as Christians in America in 2023 to live differently than our non-Christian neighbors? It would take more than family values, patriotism, hard work—in other words, all the things that we value culturally. Those are also valued by most of our neighbors. So what would it take for us to show Christ in a radical way? I think this is a question we must answer in order to see truly changed lives in our county.
Unity: Here Packiam takes on the rise of Christian Nationalism.
Mission: Our mission is to announce Jesus as King and to anticipate His Kingship over the world by living out Kingdom values.
One more big WOW spot for me was on p. 240, referring to an essay about the moral failure of Hillsong New York’s pastor, Carl Lentz. The author, Ben Sixsmith, referred to Christians who simply add “a twist of Christianity” to their pre-existing cultural commitments. So Jerry Falwell Jr added a twist of Christianity to right-wing, capitalism-as-god. Nadia Bolz-Webber adds a twist of Christianity to the usual left-wing causes. His argument is “If Christianity is simply an add-on, why become a Christian?” The final paragraph is powerful:
“I am not religious, so it is not my place to dictate to Christians what they should and should not believe. Still, if someone has a faith worth following, I feel that their beliefs should make me feel uncomfortable for not doing so. If they share 90 percent of my lifestyle and values, then there is nothing especially inspiring about them. Instead of making me want to become more like them, it looks very much as if they want to become more like me.” Ouch.
A final reminder from Packiam at the very end of the book: When all is said and done, we are all interim pastors. Worrying about "making a mark" or "building a legacy" is fruitless. All that is required is that we serve faithfully. If we keep that in mind, we will stay the course.
February 2, 2023
What a great post-pandemic read on the challenges and mission that we have as pastors and as the church. I loved the way that Glenn integrated research, his experience, and Spirit filled insights into this. It does not read as a dry book about a research project. It's a compelling and convicting read that will fill you with hope and dreams for the future of the church. Highly recommended!
February 1, 2023
Spot on and timely
The book is well written and the author demonstrates excellent knowledge of the topic and I would highly recommend this for the young leader as well as the veteran leader
The book is well written and the author demonstrates excellent knowledge of the topic and I would highly recommend this for the young leader as well as the veteran leader
Read
February 22, 2022Sobering, insightful, hopeful
October 12, 2025
Really great start! the tips on personal maintenance as a pastor were REALLY helpful as were some of the ideas on church mission and purpose. the things on counsel, spiritual development, and care were good reminders as were the reminders on why pastors need their own set aside time with God. however, I found the book lacking in true themes of building resilience. it seemed like a simple report of statistics without actual ideas and strategies in building resilience and flexibility as pastors. They spent so much time talking about the data without proposing a way forward, so it felt a little less impactful than it could have been. Great start for young pastors like myself, and I will definitely be taking plenty away! however, I do think i was expecting more from this book that I simply did not get.
June 17, 2022
The Resilient Pastor was the perfect book for me. Feeling exhausted from two years of ministry in Covid it was refreshing to read the words of Dr. Packiam.
In many ways it told me things that I already knew yet it didn't come across as condescending. Instead, it was as if I was chatting with a mentor over a couple of coffees. The number of notes I took down and quotes that are worth remembering are many.
I highly recommend it to any pastor who is feeling the weight of leading through the pandemic or those we are felling tired in their pastoral calling.
In many ways it told me things that I already knew yet it didn't come across as condescending. Instead, it was as if I was chatting with a mentor over a couple of coffees. The number of notes I took down and quotes that are worth remembering are many.
I highly recommend it to any pastor who is feeling the weight of leading through the pandemic or those we are felling tired in their pastoral calling.
July 18, 2023
Packiam offers a heartfelt, deep and convicting account for the pastor in the modern age. There a many questions and challenges being faced by pastors, and yet the answer remains simple: Jesus.
This is a well-written and engaging book that had me wanting to read it cover to cover. The layout (including helpful data and infographics) is easy on the eyes. Moreso, this read could be useful to anyone not just pastors--though pastors are the intended audience. This is a useful resource I see myself returning to in the future.
This is a well-written and engaging book that had me wanting to read it cover to cover. The layout (including helpful data and infographics) is easy on the eyes. Moreso, this read could be useful to anyone not just pastors--though pastors are the intended audience. This is a useful resource I see myself returning to in the future.
July 6, 2022
An encouraging, pastoral book for ministers today. The reflections are thoughtful and bolstered by fascinating data from Barna. The later chapters were a bit too surface-level-theology-summary for my liking, but the chapters on cultural issues were strong.
Full review forthcoming for Englewood Review of Books...
Full review forthcoming for Englewood Review of Books...
September 5, 2022
8.5/10
I love Glenn's balanced approach to pastoral ministry and how he combines best practices from high & low church (especially noted in Chapter 10 -- the Collaborative Church). Overall, this isn't a difficult read but it's also very full of numbers/analytics/data that requires pretty engaged attention (esp. while listening to the audiobook).
I love Glenn's balanced approach to pastoral ministry and how he combines best practices from high & low church (especially noted in Chapter 10 -- the Collaborative Church). Overall, this isn't a difficult read but it's also very full of numbers/analytics/data that requires pretty engaged attention (esp. while listening to the audiobook).
July 14, 2023
Not enough pastors remember just how different things are. Too many pastors I know try to act like things are just as they were before the pandemic.
They are not. We can do the same things but people are different. We can only truly care for our churches by realizing this and acting accordingly.
They are not. We can do the same things but people are different. We can only truly care for our churches by realizing this and acting accordingly.
March 22, 2022
Helpful book for pastors or anyone thinking about the future of the church. Skews American in context, so didn’t feel as relevant or new in some of the data, but interesting still.
April 25, 2022
Great reminders of how to stay fresh and energized in trying times. Felt challenged even to consider how to partner with others outside your tribe for Kingdom work.
May 2, 2022
Reads like Glenn Packiam's greatest hits, which are pretty great. So, I recommend it.
June 17, 2022
6.1 So good. Very informative. Not a mere pastoral theology, but a very important theology of our current cultural moment. I am thankful for it.
August 8, 2022
Pastors have to care about spiritual maturity too!
The main idea: Being with Jesus is more important that doing for Jesus. The best thing your people need is a full cup.
The main idea: Being with Jesus is more important that doing for Jesus. The best thing your people need is a full cup.
October 4, 2022
Timely, if not timeless, advice for pastors.
November 10, 2022
There isn't a pastor I wouldn't recommend this to. Wise, helpful, and just an enjoyable read. Packiam doesn't come across as a sage or expert at all and I love that.
Read
January 3, 2023There is a lot of good content to consider on how to pastor a church in the new landscape we find ourselves in.
July 27, 2023
Great Read, solid stuff!
March 16, 2022
I'm definitely recommending this one to my pastor friends. It's a timely book that is easily relatable. It does get to be a bit of a slog in the middle, but it ends well—even hopeful! You'll want to read this one.
And if you don't, just check out my highlights. I hope they're a good overview.
And if you don't, just check out my highlights. I hope they're a good overview.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews