Rev. Dr. Glenn Packiam is associate senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colo., and lead pastor of one the church’s eight congregations, New Life Downtown. He is a senior fellow at Barna Group, a visiting fellow at St John’s College at Durham University, and an adjunct professor at Denver Seminary. His latest book is “The Resilient Pastor: Leading Your Church in a Rapidly Changing World.”
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Key Questions for Glenn Packiam
-What are the challenges you and Barna found and how are they impacting church leaders?
-How much do you think pastors are prioritizing their spiritual lives?
-What are some signs that pastors are living beyond their limits?
-Can you talk about your own experience as a pastor with tribalism in the church? If tribalism is a failure of discipleship, what can we do to work through that?
Key Quotes From Glenn Packiam
“On the pastor’s side, one of the things that really emerged is there’s a shaking in vocational confidence…more pastors are less confident and fewer pastors are more confident.”
“So many of us as pastors and church leaders, we’ve sort of thought the mark of being great or healthy or whatever is how fast we can run or how far we can run or how big our churches can get. And I think what we’re realizing is resilience or, to put it in another way, recovery and recalibration, those are the markers of health.”
“That’s the test for us: Can you cultivate a deep life with God, with spiritual practices beyond the ones you’re leading your congregation in?”
“Maybe you’re in a church that has modern worship. Well, maybe for your own life with God, you need…Psalm praying or an ancient prayer like the prayer of examen.”
“When was the last time you had a Sabbath? Many pastors, we sort of feel like a Sabbath is a luxury.”
“One of the signs that we’re moving too fast and we’re just trying to run too hard is there’s no space for Sabbath with the Lord, but then also no space for genuine recreation with friends.”
“I think there’s a core part of our calling that remains consistent, even if it takes different shapes throughout our lives. And so good guides, good retreats, good resources can actually help us dig deeper on vocational discernment.”
“When we find ourselves at seasons of disruption, of vocational discernment, we need to remind ourselves that the source of our calling is Christ himself.”
