Mark Conner Spirituality, Theology

‘Everyday Experiences of the Divine’ (Complete Teaching Series)

[Update]

This year, I enjoyed preparing and sharing a new series of messages at Bayside Church on the theme of Everyday Experiences of the Divine.

Part 1 – Everyday Experiences of the Divine: The Mystic (22nd February 2024)

In this introductory message, I spoke about the centrality of spiritual experience to the Christian life, showing how the God that is beyond us, close to us, and within us, can be encountered in the ordinary aspects of our daily life. 

Listen to this message via the embedded audio immediately below or watch the video via YouTube.

Part 2 – Everyday Experiences of the Divine: The Sacred Word (16th April 2024)

In this message, I spoke about how the sacred word can be a place where we experience God speaking to and with us. This message included a detailed overview of how we got our Bible and how we can benefit most from it, including reading it as a regular spiritual practice. 

Listen to this message via the embedded audio immediately below or watch the video via YouTube.

Part 3 – Everyday Experiences of the Divine: Hearing God’s Voice (27th June 2024)

In this message, I spoke about the importance of listening to God and hearing his voice. This message included lessons from the prophet Habakkuk about adopting a prophetic posture and practical insights for discerning God’s voice from the many other voices in our lives. 

Listen to this message via the embedded audio immediately below or watch the video via YouTube.

Part 4 – Everyday Experiences of the Divine: Learning to See (10th July 2024)

In this message, I spoke about learning to see what God is doing and saying in the world around us. I included many practical examples illustrating how we can grow in awareness and attentiveness to the Divine. 

Listen to this message via the embedded audio immediately below or watch the video via YouTube.

Part 5 – Everyday Experiences of the Divine: God as Loving Parent (1st September 2024)

In this special Father’s Day message, I shared a number of reflections about fatherhood, then looked at God as a loving parent, drawing lessons for parents today and for enhancing all of our relationships. 

Listen to this message via the embedded audio immediately below or watch the video via YouTube.

Part 6 – Everyday Experiences of the Divine: Dreaming (6th October 2024)

In this final message about everyday experiences of the Divine, I shared about the power of our dreams and how God can speak to us through them. 

Listen to this message via the embedded audio immediately below or watch the video via YouTube.

All the best with your exciting adventure of experiencing God more in your daily life!

Mark Conner Personal Development, Spirituality

THRIVE

Last year, I shared a 5-part series of messages at Bayside Church in Melbourne around the theme of THRIVE. As we entered the year, our intention wasn’t to merely SURVIVE another year, but to THRIVE. The English word ‘thrive’ means: to flourish, bloom, or prosper. It comes from an Old Norse root worth that means to grow or increase. It’s about a certain vitality and excitement, a sense of joy and enjoyment, a burst of energy, strength, and resilience for the inevitable challenges and pressures of the territory, and an increasing passion and enthusiasm.

In life, “everything belongs”. Everything is connected. This series looked at 5 vital relationships or connections within your world. Like an eco-system, each part contributes to the health and well-being of the whole and the whole contributes to each part. Each aspect has a vital part to play in our overall flourishing.

1. You and God. Each person’s spiritual journey begins with an awareness of God, which can occur early or later in life, and in a variety of different ways. Once we embrace the reality of God, knowing who this God is becomes vital. Thankfully, the God of the Universe is revealed as LOVE and we can learn to live each day as the ‘beloved’. This is a life of grace not one of performance-based acceptance. How freeing and transformational this can be! You can listen to the audio of this message now.

2. You and Your Calling. In this message, I shared some insights for discovering your life purpose, which includes a sense of identity (who you are) and contribution (what you do). Your mission is at the intersection of (1) what you are good at, (2) what you care about, and (3) the needs of the world. You can listen to the audio of this message now.

3. You and Yourself. To thrive in life, we need a healthy relationship with the person we look at in the mirror each day – ourselves. In this message, I shared about the importance of self-acceptance, how to develop personal confidence, the vital quality of integrity, and how to become a more optimistic person. You can listen to the audio of this message now.

4. You and People. Life for people of faith is about loving God and loving people. The first task is often easier than the second! After all, ‘everyone is normal until you get to know them’! In this message, I shared 7 relational principles from the life of Jesus then focused on the 3 BIG relational Cs – handling Criticism, resolving Conflict, and learning to Confront appropriately when necessary. You can listen to the audio of this message now.

5. You and Your Work. In this message, I exposed the myth of sacred/secular dualistic thinking, presented a ‘theology of work’, and shared some insights for finding meaningful work and a job to love. I finished up by acknowledging that there is more to life than work and shared a few thoughts about ‘retirement’. You can listen to the audio of this message now.

As you listen to these messages and reflect on your own life, I hope that you will THRIVE in this new year.

Mark Conner Leadership, Spirituality, Theology

Jesus

I wrote this in my journal 7 years ago …

Thinking about Jesus today …

He had no role within any organisation or religious system.

Yes, at times he worked ‘within’ the religious system (speaking in the synagogues, for instance) but he was not employed by it or accountable to it.

He also moved ‘outside’ of it much of the time, in a more organic and relational manner … mostly with people who did not have institutional power.

Of course, he did not avoid or ignore people of position or authority, but rather he sought to influence them with a new paradigm of thinking and a new way of doing life.

He had a standard education for any young Jewish boy but did no training within the halls of theological power.

He focused a lot of time on preparation and did so in solitude, away from the limelight or the spotlight.

Even when his ministry started he often avoided the crowds where possible and spent a lot of time alone.

He loved the crowds but wasn’t interested in building a crowd, an organisation or an institution. He focused on developing and investing in a handful of nondescript people who he thought had future potential (12 disciples primarily, with also a broader group of 70 people).

Jesus was far more interested in the irreligious than the religious people of his day, in sinners rather and saints. He spent the majority of his time with them and really didn’t enjoy the pedantic debates of the holy huddle brigade.

He spent far more time eating meals and attending parties with ordinary people than sitting in long meetings.

He was content being small, isolated and seemingly insignificant in the eyes of the wider world. He didn’t seek fame, power or popularity. In many ways, he was a reluctant leader.

Yet, his life has had a greater and longer lasting impact than anyone else who has ever lived.

I wonder why I hadn’t seen this earlier?

Mark Conner Special Events

A New Year Awaits …

I hope you had an enjoyable Christmas and that this holiday season brings you a tangible sense of peace and strength. Before you know it, we will be into another new year – 2024!

It’s been noted before that many people spend more time thinking about their holidays than they do their life. That’s a good reminder of the importance of taking some time to think about and reflect on our life. This time of year is a good opportunity to do that – pause and reflect, then think about the direction you are heading.

If that’s something you want to set aside some time to do, then I recommend reviewing the series we did back in December 2020 called ‘Life Think‘ – 13 episodes designed to help you reflect on and design the life you desire. You can read these as BLOG posts or watch them on the Soul Food YouTube channel.

All the best for the coming year. May it be filled with much joy and meaning for you.

Mark Conner

Mark Conner Church, Music

‘All Nations Worship’ Revisited

Back in 1990, I had the privilege of leading worship on the first international Integrity Music album, All Nations Worship. It was recorded at Waverley Christian Fellowship (now CityLife Church) and produced by Tom Brooks. Many songs by Australian composers were included and the singers and choir were from a variety of churches around Melbourne.

A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to particiapte in a podcast interview about this recording with Dave Zudweg. He is passionate about keeping the many outstanding Integrity Music Hosanna worship albums alive and well.

The podcast is now available at Worship 2.0.

Other recent podcasts include interviews with worship leaders such as Don Moen, Ron Kenoly, Kent Henry, and Russell Fragar.

For more about my involvement in music and worship ministry over the years, visit the Music Page of this website. It includes links to songs I have written, an audio of All Nations Worship, a video of a worship medley I did from the piano, and a recent re-mix of my worship song Here We Are.

Also, be sure to visit Worship2point0.com and subsribe to Christian Internet Radio. You can listen to 350 songs from 87 Hosanna Music CD’s in your car, on your phone, online and at home, with no commercials or advertisements.

If you subscribe to this station, you will be given 20% off the annual fee and 50% of that fee will be donated to Conner Ministries. To check it out, choose the ‘FREE TRIAL’ option. You’ll be able to listen for 7 days, 24 hours a day. You can then subscribe following the steps below:

  1. Go to Worship2point0.com and click on ‘SUBSCRIBE’. 
  2. Click on the link: “Here to support a Ministry? Click here.”
  3. In the text box (below the wording ‘Enter the code for the ministry you want to support.’ Type in: MCONNER
  4. Click on the ‘Apply’ button.
  5. Fill in the ‘Create Profile’ and ‘Billing Method’ sections.
  6. Click on the ‘Submit Form’ button.
  7. Now go ahead and login with your new Username and Password. You should be all set!
Mark Conner Personal Development

Today’s Questions

Answers. We all love them. A test completed. A problem fixed. A riddle solved. A decision made. Confusion clarified. Resolution. The end.

What about questions? Here are some good questions to ask yourself from time to time.

  • Who am I?
  • What do I value?
  • Why am I here?
  • What gives life meaning … for me?
  • What do I enjoy?
  • What do I want … really?
  • What is frustrating me?
  • What is my best contribution?
  • Where am I heading?
  • What’s important now?
  • What do I do next?
  • What needs to change?
  • Who can help?
  • What is my focus … today?

Maybe we’re better off not rushing too soon to answers before patiently exploring our questions. Why not sit with them for a while? Be willing to live in the ‘in-between’. Pause. Embrace mystery and paradox – the unknown and yet to be revealed. I wonder if we can let go of the anxiety of the unresolved. Marinate. Give it time.

You are changing … and so are the questions … and so are the answers … for you.

What are your questions today?

“The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.”

Albert Einstein
Mark Conner News

Merry Christmas!

I would like to wish each of you a Merry Christmas and all the best for the coming New Year. I have really appreciated your interest and support throughout 2022. It has been a good year with much to be thankful for but another crazy one in many ways – with continued uncertainty around the COVID pandemic, the economy, and our world in general.

Nicole and I have been based back in Melbourne for a while now after spending a few enjoyable years living on the Sunshine Coast. In the end, relationships trumped geography for us. All of our adult children and their partners, as well as our two beautiful grandchildren, are here in Melbourne and we look forward to celebrating Christmas together.

Here are some of the highlights from this year:

  • The Soul Food with Mark Conner videos now has five seasons: Self Care (13 episodes), Life Think (13 episodes), Reboot (4 episodes), Relational Intelligence (16 episodes), and The Stories We Tell Ourselves (6 episodes). You can read a transcript of each episode on my BLOG or watch the videos on my YouTube channel at any time.
  • My audio podcast continues to reach and assist many people with almost 10,000 downloads of the 82 episodes released so far.
  • The seven books I have written continue to inspire and help a large variety of people. They are available in paperback or eBook formats, and in most countries of the world.
  • I have appreciated the opportunities to speak at various churches and in a variety of webinars and training events. [My upcoming schedule of speaking engagements is regularly updated as new events are committed to. If I can be of help to your church or leadership community through a Sunday message or other training event, don’t hesitate to ask]

Do take care and may you have an enjoyable Christmas and a restful holiday season!

Mark Conner

Mark Conner Soul Food

The Stories We Tell Ourselves – Externalization and The Table of Life

In this next conversation with Nicole Conner, we talk about the power of externalization. In all of our lives, we are not the problem; the problem is the problem. Externalizing prevents us from forming our identity around a problem story and enables us to deal with it more objectively.

The ‘table of life’ is a powerful metaphor or word picture that sees our lives as a table with many guests. Some are helpful while others are difficult. Some are quiet while others can be noisy at times. I wonder what and who is at your table today and what the stories are that they are telling you. And are you okay with that?

Mark Conner Personal Development, Soul Food

The Stories We Tell Ourselves – Narrative Therapy

Today I begin a series of conversations with my wife, Nicole Conner, on the topic of ‘The Stories We Tell Ourselves’. Nicole has a Masters of Narrative Therapy and Community Work from Melbourne University and she has her own narrative therapy practice called Defining Stories. Over the last few years, Nicole has been able to come alongside many people and help them navigate a variety of problems and challenges in their lives.

In this first video conversation, we discuss narrative therapy and what drew Nicole to this particular modality or discipline. We also talk about how this approach can be transformative.

Here are the other episodes in this series on The Stories We Tell Ourselves:

  1. Narrative Therapy (this episode).
  2. Defining Stories.
  3. Problem Stories.
  4. Externalisation and the Table of Life.
  5. A Story About Anxiety.
  6. Discerning Your Dominant Story.

For those desiring to learn more about narrative therapy, here are some recommended resources:

Mark Conner Contemporary Culture, Religion, Spirituality

What is Happening to Christianity?

The statistics are in from the 2021 census by the Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS: source]. Only 43.9% of Australians now identify with its most common religion – Christianity. This is down from 50% in 2016, 60% percent in 2011, and 71% not long before that. That’s what I would call a ‘free fall’ – almost a 30%+ decline in a matter of decades. It is the first time less than half of the country identifies as Christian.

So what is the fastest-growing religious category? ‘No religion‘. More Australians than ever have reported they don’t identify with any religion. Almost 40% of the Australian population reported having ‘no religion’. This marks an increase from 30% in 2016 and 22% in 2011. NOTE: Despite being a voluntary question on the census, there was an increase in the proportion of people answering the question, from 91% in 2016 to 93% in 2021.

The census showed other religions are growing but make up a small proportion of the population. Hinduism has grown by 55.3 percent to 684,002 people or 2.7 percent of the population. Islam has grown to 813,392 people, which is 3.2 percent of the Australian population.

So what is happening? Is this simply a sign of increasing nominalism and spiritual apathy? Or could it be that Christianity in its current forms simply doesn’t seem attractive to more and more people who do not believe it is worth their wholehearted devotion and commitment?

In the USA, the Supreme Court has recently overturned Roe Vs Wade which legalised abortion back in 1973. Most conservative Christians are rejoicing and former President Donald Trump is smiling in a corner somewhere. However, the culture wars are ignited afresh as a result of this landmark decision, with LGTBQI+ rights potentially under threat next.

How does all of this affect the work of the church and the message of Jesus? Personally, I am for life in all its ages and stages BUT I think legislating morality can be problematic. Zack Hunt’s recent provocative article ‘The Pro-Life Movement Is Anti-Christ‘ raises a lot of relevant issues in all of this.

No doubt the reputation of Christianity has been greatly damaged by cases of clergy sexual abuse and recent public scandals of influential leaders. In addition, the COVID pandemic caused much polarisation within the church between anti-vaxxers, conspiracists, and health professionals, and has also had a big impact on church attendance as well as volunteerism (I recently heard that one Christian business person said the last thing they wanted right now was to be on a roster!).

An increasing number of people I know have no problem with Jesus and would describe themselves as ‘spiritual‘ but feel less comfortable with the institutional church as we know it and in identifying with ‘Christianity.’

I just finished reading Brian McLaren’s latest book ‘Do I Stay Christian: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned‘. It is a challenging read and though you will probably not agree with all of his analysis or recommendations, he sure captures the current questions and dilemmas that many followers of Jesus are grappling with.

We know that ‘Christendom‘ is gone, at least in the West, but it now seems that even contemporary expressions of ‘church‘ are also on shaky ground.

In his book ‘The Future of Faith‘, Harvard religion scholar Harvey Cox offers up a new interpretation of the history and future of religion. Cox identifies three fundamental shifts over the last 2,000 years of church history:

  • The Age of Faith was when the early church was more concerned with following Jesus’ teachings than enforcing what to believe about Jesus.
  • The Age of Belief marks a significant shift – between the fourth and twentieth centuries – when the church focused on orthodoxy and right beliefs.
  • The Age of the Spirit, which began in the 1960s and is shaping not just Christianity but other religious traditions today, is ignoring dogma and breaking down barriers between different religions. Spirituality is replacing formal religion. 

For even more thought-provoking reading on this topic, you can’t go past American historian of Christianity Diana Butler Bass‘ monumental work in her book ‘Christianity After Religion’.

So what does this all mean? Where are things heading? What does the future hold? How should we respond to this? What is God up to? These are vital questions for our time, especially for followers of Jesus and church leaders seeking to live out his mission in our world. May we have wisdom, courage, and grace to respond well to the times we have been given.

Mark Conner Relationships, Soul Food

Relational Intelligence

I hope you enjoyed our 16-part series of Soul Food with Mark Conner on the important topic of relational intelligence. Life is all about relationships. As we enhance our sense of connection with the people in our life, everybody wins.

The topics covered in this Relational Intelligence series were:

Listening.

Emotional Intelligence.

Empathy.

Authenticity.

Love Languages.

Confrontation.

Forgiveness.

Trust.

Atmosphere.

Anger.

Acceptance.

Encouragement.

Apology.

Friendship.

Assertiveness.

Feedback.

After a brief break, we’ll be back with an entirely new series of Soul Food.