1700 Years Ago this Month...
The Birth of the Best Confession of Faith
My friend Stephen Foster, who pastors a wonderful thousand-year old church in Oxford— at which I’ve had the great privilege of preaching— posted this recently on his Instagram account:
1,700 years ago this month, Christian leaders from across the world gathered at a coastal city in what is now the nation of Turkey. Their gathering was one of the most significant to happen in the last 2,000 years, and was extraordinary in many ways.
They came to declare the Christian faith against the powers, to denounce heresy and to enable the Church to worship in unity. They knew the value of what they had been entrusted with, as many of their generation had been killed for their faith in Jesus.
They had been through years of intense persecution and suffering. Many of their friends had been burnt alive for their faith in the Diocletian Persection, others had been punished and dismissed from jobs, and many churches had been razed.
The leaders were far from perfect and the process inevitably political, and yet the Spirit led through the human realities. And so, they agreed the Nicene Creed of 325, which seventeen centuries later unites the Christian Church globally.
Amen, Stephen. Amen.
Readers of my Substack will likely know that two months ago (March 11, 2025!) I released a new book called, “What’s A Christian, Anyway? Finding Our Way in an Age of Confusion and Corruption”. It’s a line by line exploration of the Nicene Creed— not just to help us understand what these words mean but to help us imagine what it looks like to live like these words are true.
I shared in an earlier post a few of the notable podcast conversations I’ve gotten to have (Eric Metaxes, Ed Stetzer, The Holy Post, etc); and I posted a lengthy video of a conversation John Mark Comer and I had about a “Rule of Faith” belonging with a “Rule of Life”. So far, I’ve done nearly 50 interviews! But there have been some recent articles and podcasts that are worth sharing now.
First up, I was Carey Nieuwhof’s incredible leadership podcast.
We talked a lot about pastoral resilience, practices for cultivating health, and ways to respond to the credibility crisis facing church leaders. I wrote some reflections on our conversation here.
Next, Relevant Magazine featured a gracious and detailed interview with me on “What’s A Christian, Anyway?” and how the Creed can help those struggling with faith.
Here’s how it opens:
In a cultural moment saturated with hashtags, hot takes and half-baked theologies, Glenn Packiam is trying to do something that feels almost radical: get back to the basics.
The basics, in this case, being the Nicene Creed. That 1,700-year-old confession of faith you may have mumbled through once during a liturgical church service and never really thought about again. Packiam, a pastor, theologian and author of What’s a Christian Anyway?, is staking a bold claim: The way forward for the church might not be something new, but something ancient.
“In this moment of corruption in the church and confusion in our culture,” Packiam says, “it’s easy to lose your bearings. The Nicene Creed is like a guide rope in a blizzard — it doesn’t solve everything, but it can keep you from getting lost.”
The book is a response to the kind of conversations Packiam’s been having with disillusioned believers for years. People who say they’re walking away from Christianity but, in his view, are often walking away from a distorted version of it.
“Tell me about the faith you’re leaving,” he’ll ask. “Because chances are, it might not be Christianity anyway.”
Then there was this conversation with Jason Daye with PastorServe that was also featured on Church Leaders.
Here’s how they framed it:
In an age of confusion where many are questioning the credibility of the church, how can we get really rooted in what truly matters? In this week’s conversation on FrontStage BackStage, host Jason Daye is joined by Glenn Packiam. Glenn is a pastor, author, and practical theologian who serves as the lead pastor at Rockharbor Church in Costa Mesa, California. He’s written a number of books, including his latest, “What’s a Christian, Anyway?” Together, Glenn and Jason assess the subversion of Christianity by cultural and personal agendas and how that impacts our witness. Glenn then highlights the mystery and beauty of God as an invitation to experience and extend the peace, love, and joy of Jesus to an uncertain world.
Last week, Christianity Today also posted a new article called, “How the Nicene Creed Became Cool Again”, which featured my book on the Creed.
Here’s an excerpt:
Glenn Packiam, author of What’s a Christian, Anyway?
The power of the Nicene Creed is it reminds us of a bigger church, an older church, worldwide and historic.
It became important to me in 2009 when I was at a church in Colorado Springs—New Life Church. That was the church where Ted Haggard was the pastor. Haggard had his scandal in 2006 and then there was a shooting in 2007. I was ministering to the young people, and there was a lot of disillusionment, you know? They weren’t ready to quit and walk away from faith, but they were like, “I don’t want to just buy it because someone who’s clever on this platform is selling it.” So I began to introduce the creed, and we recited it.
I saw people latch on and go, “Okay, my faith isn’t something [a pastor or a church] came up with. Billions and billions of followers of Jesus have said these words.”
I would encourage people to consider a sermon series and consider saying the creed in your worship service. Do it once. Do it twice. Do it for a month and see what happens.
Back to Stephen Foster’s words. They are a fitting end.
Earlier generations would teach new believers to memorize the Lord's Prayer and the Nicene Creed, on the basis that the two together gave you a huge amount for your faith to grow. Yet today, most might not know the Nicene Creed at all.
So this month is a great month to dust off a 1,700 year old declaration of distilled Biblical truth, and rub it into your heart and mind, and allow it to deepen your prayer and faith and worship.
Let it be.