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About

In this compelling episode of the Resilient Pastor podcast, host Glenn Pacquiao sits down with author, speaker, and political theology scholar Caitlin Shetler to explore the powerful connection between liturgy and politics. They examine how Christian worship forms believers for faithful public witness, how secular political liturgies shape our desires and loyalties, and why many Christians today feel more allegiance to political tribes than to the way of Jesus. Drawing from history, Scripture, and the global church, Caitlin offers a hopeful vision for counter-formation through historic Christian practices, biblical discernment, and renewed community identity.

Perfect for pastors, church leaders, and believers wrestling with faith, politics, and cultural division, this conversation bridges spiritual formation, political theology, and practical discipleship in a rapidly changing world.

Key Takeaways

• Political participation and Christian worship are deeply connected—both function as liturgies that form our loves, loyalties, and identity.
• Secular political liturgies (media, consumerism, tribal narratives) often form us more effectively than the church by appealing to our desires and fears.
• The church must recover its own formative practices—corporate confession, posture in worship, rhythmic language, and historic resources—to counter cultural deformation.
• Christian political engagement should flow from a deeper sense of identity in Christ and belonging to the historic, global body of Christ rather than partisan loyalty.
• The Bible informs political decisions, but there is no simple, self-evident line from verse to policy; faithful discernment requires humility, community, and attention to the Spirit across time and cultures.
• Returning to the broader Christian tradition—including voices like Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Black church, and the persecuted church—helps ground faith amid disillusionment and cultural crisis.

Highlights

• “We are pouring water on the head for a fire that’s in the heart.” — Caitlin Shetler on intellectual responses to formation problems
• “What the heart loves, the will chooses, and the mind justifies.” — Cranmer’s anthropology as explained by Ashley Null
• Liturgy is not just “high church”—every church has rhythms, songs, practices, and language that shape its people.
• Political liturgies often tell a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” story that the gospel must confront with grace, justice, and dependence on God.
• Christians are more loyal to their political views than their faith because both politics and the church make ultimate claims on identity and community.
• Prophetic discernment—learning to hear where the Spirit is truly moving—is the ongoing, generation-by-generation task of the church.

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