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Discover the Mystery of Faith: How Worship Shapes Believing Kindle Edition

by Glenn Packiam (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 207 ratings
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What if the way we worship isn't just an expression of our faith, but is what shapes our faith?

The Church has believed this about the way we worship and pray together for centuries: The way we worship becomes the way we believe. But if this is true, it’s time to take a closer look at what we say and sing and do each week. Drawing from his own discovery of ancient worship practices, Glenn Packiam helps us understand why the Church made creedal proclamations and Psalm-praying a regular part of their worship. He shares about why the Eucharist was the climactic point of their corporate “re-telling of the salvation story.”

When our worship becomes a rich feast, our faith is nourished and no longer anemic. The more our worship speaks of Christ, the more we enter into the mystery of faith.

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  1. Print length
    97 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    David C Cook
  4. Publication date
    March 5, 2013
  5. File size
    6.9 MB
  6. Page Flip
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  7. Word Wise
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Glenn Packiam is the lead pastor of new life DOWNTOWN, an extension of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is the author of LUCKY, Secondhand Jesus, and Butterfly in Brazil. As a worship leader and artist with Integrity Music, Glenn is also the writer of several well-loved worship songs. He and his wife, Holly, along with their four children live each day with gratitude.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00B9N1I7G
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ David C Cook (March 5, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 5, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 6.9 MB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 97 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 207 ratings

About the author

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Glenn Packiam

Glenn Packiam

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Glenn Packiam is the Lead Pastor of Rockharbor Church in Costa Mesa, California, and a Senior Fellow at Barna Group.

He is the author of nine books, including his newest, “What’s A Christian, Anyway? Finding Our Way in and Age of Confusion and Corruption” and two best-sellers, “The Intentional Year” which was co-written with his wife, Holly, and “The Resilient Pastor: Leading Your Church in a Rapidly Changing World”.

Glenn earned a Doctorate in Theology and Ministry from Durham University in the UK, and is a Visiting Fellow at St. John’s College at Durham University. A regular speaker at conferences for church leaders, Glenn has also taught seminars and courses at Durham University (Cranmer Hall) and Denver Seminary, and has preached at chapel services at Oxford University (Wycliffe Hall), Cambridge University (Corpus Christi College), Biola University, and Asbury Seminary.

Glenn was one of the founding leaders and songwriters for the Desperation Band and has been featured on several Desperation Band and NewLifeWorship recordings. He has also released three solo projects with Integrity Music. As a songwriter with Integrity Music, he has had the honor of writing and co-writing over 65 worship songs, including several well-loved songs, like "Your Name" and "My Savior Lives." Glenn, his wife, Holly, have four children and live in Orange County, California.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
207 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book thought-provoking and accessible. They describe it as a quick, well-written read about Christian worship. The narrative quality is described as intentional and believable. Readers appreciate the author's practical look at the deep resources of Orthodoxy.

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Thought provokingReadabilityAccessibilityNarrative qualityOrthodoxy
54 customers mention "Thought provoking"51 positive3 negative

Customers find the book insightful and engaging. It explains the rich history of worship and how it has shaped Christian life. Readers appreciate the author's accessible approach and the opportunity to connect with their faith tradition.

"...both to everyone, especially anyone who is interested in the rich history of the faith and the discussion of why the way we worship matters...." Read more

"...To the extent that this encourages a deeper look at Christian history and liturgy I am excited...." Read more

"...This book is also a great primer for any disciple looking to better understand the corporate service/act of worship...." Read more

"...Most recently, what has helped me find my way again was reconnecting with the rich heritage and tradtions that are a part of the Church...." Read more

44 customers mention "Readability"44 positive0 negative

Customers find the book easy to read and engaging. They say it's a good, brief read about Christian worship. The author is skilled at making things understandable and relatable. It's a must-read for pastors and worship leaders.

"...the early church help guide our course correction? In this marvelous primer, Glenn Packiam proves he is an important voice in this emerging..." Read more

"...And as such, it is a useful book if you are interested in the stream. When he is talking about his own journey and worship he is at his best...." Read more

"...This book is a simple, faithful, and accessible reflection from a young pastor seeking to do just that, while drawing from the deep wells of..." Read more

"...It is a great read! It will sit right next to my books by N.T. Wright,Eugene Peterson and other great theologians of our day..." Read more

3 customers mention "Accessibility"3 positive0 negative

Customers find the book accessible. They say it's a thoughtful reflection on how we worship.

"...This book is a simple, faithful, and accessible reflection from a young pastor seeking to do just that, while drawing from the deep wells of..." Read more

"...It is an engaging and easy read that fosters the need for reflection and investigation of the ideas and perspectives he submits...." Read more

"Thoughtful, accessible reflection of rethinking how the way we worship not only is an expression of who we are and what we believe, but can also be..." Read more

3 customers mention "Narrative quality"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the rich narrative quality. They find the story believable and mystery-filled.

"...and the accompanying album open the richness of an intentional, narrative-driven, mystery-filled worship expression to a new audience...." Read more

"...Everything tells a story... what story are you going to tell." Read more

"He takes the mystery of ancient practices and makes them doable and believable...." Read more

3 customers mention "Orthodoxy"3 positive0 negative

Customers appreciate the book's orthodoxy. They find it practical and praise the Eastern Orthodox liturgy.

"...He praises the ancientness of the Eastern Orthodox Liturgy, but then feels the need to come up with his own version...." Read more

"I am grateful for this practical look at the deep resources of the Christian tradition and how our modern churches can learn to integrate them into..." Read more

"What's old is new again and retro is hip in worship. Okay." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • Libby
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Thoughtful and Beautiful Exploration of the Theology of Christian Worship
    Reviewed in the United States on March 5, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Along with the accompanying album (link below), this book unites Glenn Packiam's experience as a worship leader, a theologian, and a pastor, and reflects his own journey of discovering the historic Christian theology of worship.

    For centuries, corporate Christian liturgy was designed to tell a story--to reflect the narrative of salvation. It moved through moments of praise and declaration, to confession and repentance, and culminated in the climactic moment of the Eucharist, the mystery of remembering and entering into Christ's work (past, present, and future) and receiving new grace into our weakness. It was profoundly Christ-centric, based on the belief that the WAY we worship is important because it shapes how we believe.

    This book explores six key moments of the worship narrative:
    1. Celebration: Why We Rejoice
    2. Proclamation: Tethered to Our Story
    3. Invocation: The Personal Presence of God
    4. Confession: Finding the God of Mercy
    5. Invitation: Turning to One Another
    6. Eucharist: Embracing the Mystery of Faith
    ________________________

    From the forward by Ian Cron:

    As I travel the country, it’s clear that a much-needed shift is taking place. Worship leaders are exhausted. The weekly pressure to plan and deliver innovative, seismically moving, crowd-attracting worship services is unsustainable.
    Essential and far-reaching questions are surfacing: is contemporary worship compassing people toward a transfiguring encounter with God or pandering to our culture’s addiction to peak experiences, entertainment, and celebrity? Has the word relevant become code for “keep the consumer satisfied”? Do services designed around themes address the longings of people in search of a narrative that will make sense of their lives? Have we become more focused on “Lights, Camera, Action,” than on “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”?
    More importantly, might reclaiming the liturgical practices and theology of worship of the early church help guide our course correction?
    In this marvelous primer, Glenn Packiam proves he is an important voice in this emerging conversation. In a theologically rich, gracious, yet clear-eyed way, he addresses these questions and many more. It couldn’t be timelier. Anyone who cares about worship and the contemporary church would be wise to read, mark, and learn from its pages.
    ________________________

    This ebook and the accompanying album open the richness of an intentional, narrative-driven, mystery-filled worship expression to a new audience. I highly recommend both to everyone, especially anyone who is interested in the rich history of the faith and the discussion of why the way we worship matters.

    (Find the accompanying album here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BKBDGA4)
    11 people found this helpful
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  • Adam Shields
    4.0 out of 5 stars A brief look at why Evangelicals should start looking to older forms of liturgy
    Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    I love my (non-denominational mega) church. But I also have been exploring the liturgy of more sacramental traditions. I am attempting to regularly use the Book of Common Prayer devotionally. And I would love it if there was a local church that did the morning prayer service daily so I could participate. (But as far as I can tell, there is not one in my immediate area.)

    So I started the book already on Packiam’s side (especially since I had read his earlier book Lucky.) Over the past several months I have been following Packiam on twitter (since the article on his church in Christianity Today) and was pleased (and interested) to hear that he is pursuing Anglican ordination.

    Part of what makes Packiam’s story interesting is that he was an Evangelical insider. He is a Pastor at a large megachurch (but has started a new site that mostly followed an Anglican Liturgy while still in a part of the megachurch.) He is a songwriter and was a part of the Desperation Band and has several solo albums. But he also studied theology (he pursuing a PhD at St John’s College at Durham University in the UK) and worked through issues around liturgy and leading worship. He (and many others) are realizing that modern worship has lost something in its attempt to modernize.

    Discover the Mystery of Faith doesn’t have anything particularly new. Robert Weber was writing about some of these issues 20 years ago, James KA Smith has a philosophically oriented project looking at liturgy as a means of spiritual formation and there are a number of stories of conversion to Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy or Anglicanism that speak of the depth of the liturgy as an important feature of their moving from Evangelicalism to sacramental Christian stream.

    What is helpful here is that Packiam is writing from the perspective of someone that is leading a church. And from someone that is heavily involved in an active and thriving Evangelical worship ministry. It is not that he has hit a crisis point, but that in looking for more this became an area he was interested in enough that he has continued to pursue it for a while now.

    His church experiment is still new. The New Life Downtown site is just two years old. But I think it is a precursor to other similar experiments that will be happening around the country. Eddie Kirkland, a worship leader at North Point, as well as many of the other worship leaders at North Point have started planting a new Anglican congregation in the Atlanta area called The Parish. Scot McKnight, at Northern Baptist Seminary Professor and long time member of Willow Creek was ordained into the Anglican church this past weekend.

    As an outsider to any of these groups, I welcome this movement. But I am somewhat cautious. To the extent that this encourages a deeper look at Christian history and liturgy I am excited. I am also encouraged by the greater look at liturgy as an important part of discipleship. But I am concerned that it may be the new hipster fad of Evangelicalism. There have been a number of articles about ‘a vast movement’. That seems to over play what is really going on. What seems to be going on is a small movement of deeply involved (often somewhat intellectually oriented) Evangelicals that sees real value in the historical traditions of Anglican Book of Common Prayer but still have theological and/or ecclesiological issues with the Roman Catholic Church.

    As a book (which I really haven’t spoken much about) Discover the Mystery of Faith is useful as one particular story in the real (but small) movement. And as such, it is a useful book if you are interested in the stream. When he is talking about his own journey and worship he is at his best. As with anyone that is trying to correct a movement, he spends some time critiquing modern worship. And he does this from the perspective of an insider, but some of the critique I think is stronger (or maybe more particular in context) than warranted.

    There is also a couple of historical and other minor errors (Nicene Council did not confirm or close the biblical canon, although that one is so popular a misconception it has its own sub-article on Wikipedia.)

    I did like this summary toward the end of the book of why corrective movements are both necessary and often problematic, which gives a sense of desire for the book:

    "These movements were probably the necessary correctives in their day. Like the reforms in worship that took place in the late medieval Church—from the Protestant Reformations to the Catholic reforms that followed—these movements had as their aim a revitalized spiritual life for local congregations. Just as Latin liturgies in rural Europe in the fourteen hundreds were strange and unintelligible to the laity, so cold, prewritten prayers felt worlds away from the turbulent realities of the ’60s and ’70s. Let’s write our own prayers, someone said. Better still, let’s write our own songs. After all, songs are just prayers set to music, right? There are always unintended consequences that come with every movement, even a revival. Decades after the first pure flames of earnest passion, generations after the inspirational leader, come the bastardized versions of things, a cheap imitation of the ideal or the theology that began the revolution. Someone will miss the heart of the movement and build a theology out of a tangential theme, like a bad cover band playing a reggae version of a classic rock song."
    9 people found this helpful
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  • Michael Homan
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Helpful and Needed Book for the 21st Century Church
    Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    The corporate act of worship shapes us and forms us in the faith in ways we may not realize. As such, pastors and worship leaders would do well to be mindful of the rhythms of worship they employ; the music, language, and liturgies they use to shepherd the flock. This book is a simple, faithful, and accessible reflection from a young pastor seeking to do just that, while drawing from the deep wells of faithful believers and traditions that tether us back to Jesus Christ, The Lord of the Church. This book is also a great primer for any disciple looking to better understand the corporate service/act of worship. Kirkegaard once remarked that our services of worship have taken on the form of a "theater," whereby the preacher is the "actor" and the musicians the "prompter" and the congregation the "audience." Glenn Packiam helps us remember that God is the audience of our worship, that we are the principle actors as we gather (participants rather than consumers) and that the musicians/pastors/etc. are the ones who prompt our attention to Christ, the firstborn of all creation. Read the book, then buy the CD that goes with this as it is a faithful attempt to put to music what the author spells out in this book.
    3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Tanya Lyons
    5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful book but not what I was expecting
    Reviewed in Canada on November 7, 2019
    Verified Purchase
    This book was a quick read, easy to follow, and packed a punch. I was challenged to think more deeply about how I view Christian worship and church meetings, being convicted about how easy it is to look at Sunday mornings through a consumeristic lens and miss out on the bigger picture of God's story and what He wants to do in and through His people. This book would be perfect for worship leaders and anyone in ministry as well as anyone who wants to understand more about what it means to follow God as part of His global body.
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  • tefilah
    5.0 out of 5 stars All worship leaders should read this book!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 18, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    Great book! For all in the evangelical church who are looking to recover depth and substance in contemporary worship, a depth that goes beyond catchy tunes and 'Christianised' love songs, this book takes an honest look at how the way we worship shapes the way we believe. Looking at how the use of liturgy in worship services can help connect us to the Story of God and remind us of our journey as the people of God, this book highlights to me the importance of knowing my theology as a worship leader, and not just having musical skills in leading worship. I would recommend this to all worship leaders!
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  • Cabreezy
    5.0 out of 5 stars Definite recommendation for any layperson in worship-leadership.
    Reviewed in Canada on September 2, 2014
    Verified Purchase
    This read is a good first step towards hearty, healthy, and wholesome worship in the liturgical church.
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  • Chappers
    3.0 out of 5 stars Short, thought provoking, a good read.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 8, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Packiam's book is well worth a read for its thought provoking challenge to contemporary worship styles and his gentle invitation to recover the worship patterns of the historical church.

    However, in the end his conclusion lacks weight, leaving one hungry for more substantial engagement with the centuries old debate regarding liturgical or non-liturgical worship and sacramentalism. Moreover, contemporary worship styles present legitimate questions within that debate and these are not addressed in this short volume.

    Within a mega church context one suspects there is very little risk in experimenting with Packiam's ideas where a specialist campus can be planted and maintained. However, for established congregations more substantial, biblical justification is likely to be required to convince churches to change their form of public worship.
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  • Amazon Customer
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 20, 2016
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    Prompt efficient service
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