Mark Conner Leadership

A Theology of Self Care

The Apostle Paul gathered the leaders from the church at Ephesus for some parting words. He had been with them for a few years and they had experienced an incredible revival in their city and beyond. We don’t have this meeting on DVD but thankfully someone took some notes of what he said (see Acts 20:17-38).

In the midst of some important heart-felt instructions, Paul said: "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock …" (Acts 20:28). Notice the order … look after yourselves as a first priority THEN the church or people entrusted to your care. How often leaders pour all of their time and energy into looking after others while neglecting themselves.

Here in Australia, Rowland Croucher, from John Mark Ministries, estimates that there are over 10,000 ex-pastors. How sad! These are people who once had a dream and a vision but for some reason have dropped out of the race.

In 2001, the National Church Life Survey revealed that of existing pastors in Australia, approximately 25% are in burnout (clinical depression), 50% are in the danger zone, and only 25% are what could be called emotionally healthy (see the NCLS publication Burnout in Church Leaders). If the local church is the hope of the world and its future is in the hands of its leaders (a quote from Bill Hybels), then these are highly concerning statistics! No wonder Paul told these Elders to take care of themselves!

How do we care for ourselves – as followers of Christ and as leaders? Here are five habits for anyone who wants to be a healthy person:

  1. Retreat Regularly (a healthy spiritual life). How easy it is for us to be more of a Martha than a Mary (see Luke 10:38-42). We can be so busy working for the Lord that we don’t take time to sit at his feet and develop intimacy with Him. It’s so important that we regularly pull aside from our busyness to connect with our God and to receive direction from Him. Jesus did this often (Mk.1:35. Lk.5:16) and so did the early church leaders (Acts 6:1-4). Make time for it – daily, weekly and monthly.
  2. Deal with your Internal Stress (a healthy emotional life). Life and ministry can be stressful but it is the stress that we carry within that does the most damage. Internal stress can come from unrealistic expectations, negative emotions, and unresolved conflicts. Renew your mind, resolve conflicts quickly, confront issues, and talk about your feelings with a safe friend, counsellor or spiritual director.
  3. Keep Growing (a healthy mental life). God has called us to a life of ‘progress’ (1 Tim.4:12-16). Keep growing and improving yourself on a continual basis. Read good books, listen to helpful teaching, learn from mentors, and gain all the experience you can.
  4. Develop Close Friendships (a healthy social life). Love your family and spend regular time with emotionally replenishing people who pour back into your life. Also, develop a broad variety of interests and/or hobbies. It’s healthy.
  5. Keep Healthy and Fit (a healthy physical life). God is interested in all of us – spirit, soul and body. Maintain a balanced diet, get regular exercise, as well as adequate sleep. Balance activity times with rest, relaxation and recovery times. Develop a sustainable pace. Keep the Sabbath principle. Take a good day off. Have regular holidays. Laugh and enjoy life!

Rate yourself from 1-10 on each one of these habits. What are your lowest two? What could you do in the next few weeks to lift in these areas? Great. Like the prophet Nike says, ‘Just do it!"

The best gift you can give those who follow you is for you to be a healthy leader. Remember, it’s not how fast you run but how long you last. Finish your race! Don’t be another statistic. All of heaven is cheering you on. We need you!

For those interested, here are some good resources for healthy living, especially for leaders:

Mark Conner Leadership

Leadership Development Event

WcaOne of the best leadership development events in the world is the annual the Willow Creek Leadership Summit. Bill Hybels and his team always put together an amazing line up of speakers all with the specific focus of helping people develop their leadership gift.

A few weeks ago this years summit was held in Chicago with satellite connection to 110 sites in North America enabling 65,000 leaders to participate in this event ‘live’. Now through the Global Leadership Summit, another 83 sites around the world will experience much of the same event through delayed video presentations, resulting in around 100,000 leaders being impacted. That’s phenomenal!

Speakers at the 2007 summit included Bill Hybels, John Ortberg, Colin Powell, Carly Fiorina, Jimmy Carter and Marcus Buckingham.

Here in Australia the Global Leadership Summit will be held in a variety of cities during the month of October. Click here to register online today. Early bird registration rates are available up until September 7th, 2007.

I have learnt more about leadership from Bill Hybels than anyone else. I encourage you to invest in your own leadership development through attending this event. Whether you’re involved in church, business or community work, you’ll definitely benefit tremendously from this experience.

DVDs of previous leadership summits are also available online. These make a great resource for personal development and staff training.

For a brief outline of a few of this year’s topics and session content, see Dave Ferguson’s blog (posts on August 10-11th, 2007).

Mark Conner Contemporary Culture

A Night at the Movies

MoviesGoing out to see a movie or hiring a DVD can be a fun way to spend an evening, especially with family and friends. However, choosing a good movie is quite another thing. To save the ‘hit and miss’ approach, it pays to check out as much as you can about a movie beforehand.

One of the best sites for this is Focus on the Family’s web site. It has an excellent coverage of a whole range of movies, as well as music and television programs. You may not always agree with their final assessment but at least you’ll know what a movie is about and what it contains before you see it. This site is also extremely helpful for parents who want to know what their teenagers are in to.

Here are a few other interesting sites with reviews of movies from a Christian perspective:

Happy viewing!

Mark Conner Books

The God Delusion?

Dawkins Walk into any Border’s Bookstore and you’ll see Richard Dawkin’s latest book The God Delusion somewhere amongst the Top 10 non-fiction books. Dawkins is one of the world’s leading and most outspoken atheists. He believes that religion and the belief in God are the source of most of the world’s evil and that we’d all be better off without it. In this book he emphatically states – "If this book works as I intend, religious readers who open it will be atheists when they put it down."

Mature Christians can benefit from reading such books – simply to be aware of those who differ from how we think and also to be equipped to talk with people around us who may be reading this kind of material.

There are some good Christian responses to Dawkins book, none better that Alistair McGrath’s book The Dawkins Delusion? It is short and concise but it pulls apart most of Dawkins emotional arguments in a gracious manner. McGrath (a former atheist himself), like Dawkins, has been a professor at Oxford University for many years. The best quote is on the cover of McGrath’s book and it is from Michael Ruse, Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University. He says of McGrath’s book – "The God Delusion makes me embarrassed to be an atheist, and McGrath shows why."

It’s unfortunate that Borders doesn’t have McGrath’s book right alongside Dawkins – so people can read both perspectives. You will most likely only find McGrath’s book in a Christian bookshop (although I did find my copy in a small bookshop in Paris while there on holidays recently!).

For a number of other good articles in response to Dawkins’ book see:

For more information on Alistair McGrath, check out his web site.

Mark Conner Contemporary Culture

What Would Jesus Say

In the early 1990s, Lee Strobel, teaching pastor of Willow Creek Community Church at the time, shared a series of messages entitled "What Would Jesus Say." His goal was to help people see well-known personalities as Jesus might see them. Through people such as Bill Clinton, Michael Jordan, Donald Trump and even Madonna, Lee endeavoured to introduce people to God's heart, talking about topics such as success, sexuality, forgiveness, prayer and leadership.

I like the concept. We are called to walk in Jesus' steps – to know his heart and his mind, and then to be his hands and feet to the world. How would Jesus relate to people in our culture? What would he say … to your neighbours and the people you work or study with?

We don't want to presume on Jesus but through reading the gospel records we start to catch a glimpse of his heart for people and how he related to them. Interestingly, the only people Jesus ever got angry with were religious people who were living hypocritical lives. When it came to 'sinners', he was criticised by others as being their 'friend' because he came along side them, he got into their world, and he endeavoured to reach them with the Father's love. What an example for us. Jesus was fully 'in' the world but clearly 'not of' the world, enabling him to bring about transformation in people's lives.

A few years ago I spoke on 'What would Jesus say to Santa Claus?' for our Christmas church meetings. It went really well.

This coming Father's Day I'm going to speak on 'What would Jesus say to Homer Simpson?' Whether you are a Simpsons fan or not, we have to recognise that it is one of the most popular TV series of all time and that it influences 21st century families. So what would Jesus say? Homer2_2

What do you think? Feel free to post a comment … I might even use it in my message!

[EDIT: For a brief summary of my Father's Day message – "What would Jesus say to Homer Simpson?", click here – 'Jesus and Homer']

Mark Conner Spirituality

A Prayer

"May the God of hope fill us up with joy, fill us up with peace, so that our believing lives, filled with the life-giving energy of the Holy Spirit, will brim over with hope!"

The Apostle Paul – Romans 15:13 [The Message Bible]

Mark Conner Church

The Emerging Church

The emerging church is a recent organic movement among postmodern believers seeking to practice the way of Jesus within contemporary culture.

Eddie Gibbs’ and Ryan Bolger’s book Emerging Churches endeavors to provide a pulse on this diverse grassroots movement. They define emerging churches by nine practices. In their opinion, emerging churches: (1) identify with the life of Jesus, (2) transform the secular realm, (3) live highly communal lives, (4) welcome the stranger, (5) serve with generosity, (6) participate as producers, (7) create as created beings, (8) lead as a body, and (9) take part in spiritual activities [p.45]. These are all good things. In fact, as a mega-church pastor, I’d say we’re endeavoring to do most of these things within our own church community, although most people would not refer to us as an emerging church.

Most emerging churches are forming outside the confines of traditional denominations and not without controversy. One influential church leader in the USA recently told me that, in his opinion, most emerging churches were filled with disillusioned Christians. I also have a friend who pastors a large church in Australia who lost a number of young adults to a nearby emerging church a few years back. Recently some have returned indicating that they are now not sure what they were emerging to.

Needless to say, any true Christ-follower longs to experience a more genuine expression of Christian community, spirituality and mission in our generation. When a follower of Christ is not experiencing these things within their local church they may seek to find it elsewhere, even through different expressions of church life.

Personally, I’m for all expressions of authentic church life. After all, we need all different types of churches to reach all different types of people. As long as churches are loving God, loving each other, and reaching out to people far from God, we shouldn’t be overly fussed whether a church is large or small, evangelical or charismatic, traditional or contemporary, urban or rural, or … emerging! We need to value diversity!

What concerns me is when one type of church, or expression of church life, criticises or belittles another. Together we are the ‘body of Christ’ and every part is valuable and necessary. Let’s seek to have a greater respect and appreciation for each other, as well as for different expressions of church. The truth is that from time to time, ALL of us need to rethink the way we ‘do church’ and how we are to best follow Christ in our culture.

Here are some other resources on the emerging church:

Mark Conner Church

The Multi-Site Church

MsUp until this time, the two primary ways for a local church to fulfill the Great Commission has been church growth and church planting. Church growth has focused on growing a congregation in one location, often through the use of multiple services. Church Planting has focused on starting new churches in different locations with the intention of reaching new people for Christ. Both church growth and church planting have had a relative measure of success over recent decades. A new emerging model is the multi-site church, which is somewhat of a blend of the two.

A multi-site church is simply ‘one church in multiple locations’. All sites share the same leadership team, budget, staff and administration. In most cases, the name of the church indicates both the overall church name and the particular site location (e.g. Hope Church North and Hope Church South). Each location develops its own set of volunteers for ministry areas but there is one leadership team and one teaching team that oversee and are involved in all sites.

There are now over 1500 churches around the world using this model. Some of the benefits of this new strategy include: the ability to reach a larger number of people through having a presence in different parts of the city, the ability for a church to maximise existing ministry strengths, the elimination of the need to build bigger and bigger buildings all the time, the opportunity to provide small church intimacy with large church resources, the harnessing of existing credibility and reputation for new congregations, and the mobilisation of many new people into ministry.

There are also a number of challenges with this approach: the need for intensive leadership development, the need for a much greater degree of teamwork, the importance of alignment, as well as the fact that existing churches in an area can feel intimidated by a larger church starting a new site up.

Unfortunately, there is a common mindset that exists amongst some church leaders that says, 'We've already got enough churches in this area – why start another one!'  Personally, I think it is essential to keep looking at how many people aren’t in church rather than those who are. Here in Australia, only 10% of people attend church on any given weekend with about 20% attending once a month. That means that around 80% of our communities are still 'unchurched'. I think you’d agree with me that the reality is we need all existing churches in every community to reach more people and we need new churches to join the task at hand.

The motivation for a multi-site strategy should be evangelism, not just creating a more convenient location for people who live further away from the church. However, staring a new site with a solid core of existing members is a tremendous strength and a site nearer to their home can help assist them in seeking to win their friends and neighbors for Christ.

For further research on this new trend, I recommend the following resources:

Mark Conner Church

Mega-Churches

A 'mega-church' is defined as a church with over 2000 people attending each weekend. The number of mega-churches around the world has continued to escalate exponentially despite a variety of criticisms.

Foundationally, we need to acknowledge that the church in Jerusalemin the first century was a mega-church with 3,000 people joining the 120 disciples on the very first day (Acts 2:41). Fairly soon there were 5,000 men in this church (Acts 4:4), meaning that if you included women and children, this church was most likely over 10,000 people in number. That’s a mega-church!

Amazingly, despite it’s size, this first century church had a high quality of community and discipleship, due to their regular gathering in homes in addition to their large gatherings (see Acts 2:42-47). We don’t have a lot of information about the ‘programs’ of the early church, but they did have both large and small gatherings of believers, a model followed by Old Testament Israel, as well as by Jesus himself.

Ultimately, the mark of maturity for any church is not its size (bigger is not necessarily better), the architecture of it’s building (the first century church owned no buildings) or even its spiritual giftings (the church at Corinth was very gifted but still immature). THE mark of a mature church is the evidence of genuine LOVE – amongst its members and towards outsiders. This is what Jesus declared would be our greatest testimony to the watching world (John 13:35) and it was what Paul was always looking for in the churches he oversaw (1 Thess.1:2-3. 2 Thess.1:3. Col.1:3-8). As our churches becoming communities where authentic love abounds, God will be pleased and people will be reached. After all, the best church growth flows out of church health.

For more information about mega-churches, here are some helpful resources that you might want to check out:

Mark Conner Current Issues

Kevin Rudd – When Our Past Comes Back to Haunt Us

News this week revealed that the Federal Labour Leader, Mr Kevin Rudd, visited a New York strip club back in 2003, where he also drank too much.

What do you think? How do you feel about this incident?

I have three responses:

  1. Disappointment. I have met Kevin personally, he has visited our church, and I have heard him speak publicly about his faith and Christian values. In light of this, it is disappointing to hear of this incident. It contradicts the persona Kevin has portrayed and attracts criticism of hypocrisy. People, especially leaders who are Christians, are expected to ‘practice what they preach’. When they don’t there is a credibility crisis that occurs. It’s disappointing.
  2. Compassion. If each of us had everything we’ve ever said or done displayed for public perusal, how would we feel? Humiliated, most likely. The truth is that each one of us, including me, have done things that we regret doing. All of us are made of the same stuff. We all, including Christians, have the same sinful tendencies. We make mistakes. None of us can point the finger at others. Rebels, respectable or religious – none of us are totally innocent. I feel compassion for Kevin.
  3. A healthy fear of God. We reap what we sow – not immediately but eventually. What is done in private will be made known in public. Fear of God is a healthy awareness that he is watching and evaluating everything that we say and do. When you realise this, you get smart (Proverbs tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom)! May each of us live each day with greater integrity. Let there be an integration of what we portray externally to people and who we really are internally when no one is looking. I’m challenged to fear God more.

Will this incident affect Mr Rudd’s chances in the upcoming federal election? Only time will tell. 

Mark Conner Preaching

“Look Mum, No Notes!”

For the last year, I have been speaking my main messages to our church without using notes and without a pulpit to stand behind.

This has been a big change for me. I've been speaking for over 20 years now and although there have been a few shorter messages I've given where I haven't used notes, I've usually taken my Bible and 6-10 pages of typed out notes to the pulpit each time I speak.

So why the change?

As part of a course I did on preaching last year, I was challenged to consider speaking without notes. My instructors noted that when you watch a movie, the actors don't read their scripts. By the time they record the movie, the actors have taken on their role and they have internalised the message. As preachers, we are delivering a more important message than any actor, so why not put the same work in?

They also noted that if someone asked you to share your life story, you wouldn't pull out a notebook. You would quickly draw from your memory and share parts of your story, selecting different things, based on how long you want to take.

So this is what I now do in preparing to speak:

  1. I spend time in prayer, preparing my heart as to what to speak on.
  2. I then spend time studying and researching for my message.
  3. This results in a typed Word document, usually about 8-12 pages long.
  4. I then summarise this into an A5 document (2 sided) with bullet points on.
  5. I then spend time praying over this, memorising the main structure, main points and illustrations of the message. In a sense, I create a 'mind map' for each message that includes where I will start, where I will take people, and how I will conclude.
  6. I then step up to speak with just my Bible (I do have this A5 sheet in the front of my Bible just in case I need to refer to it) and without a pulpit to stand behind.

When I first did this for a full 35-40 minute message, it was pretty scary. I felt a bit 'naked' in front of everyone, especially without the pulpit or podium (although I was never one to hide behind a pulpit anyway!).

Some of the benefits I've found with this approach are:

  1. As a speaker, I have to really 'own' the message. It has to be a part of me. I need it to be on the inside of me.
  2. It makes me more spontaneous, as I only memorise the structure and key points, not the actual words. I simple share the message 'as it flows'.
  3. I feel that the level of connection with the people I am speaking to is much higher, as I am able to make eye contact with them all of the time.
  4. I also sense that I'm a little more 'in tune' with God while I'm speaking, as well as 'in tune' with where the people I'm speaking to are at.

So it has been an interesting journey. I have found it quite exhilarating and I've been surprised by how much the mind can remember. I'm enjoying speaking as much as I ever have. It's been fun.

Of course, I am in no way saying that others need to take this step, including those on our teaching team. It's just something that has worked for me and I'm really enjoying it. I kind of feel like I've found 'my voice' in a new way.

P.S. For those who want to head in this direction, start small. Take some 'baby steps'. Share a short communion message without notes OR make some announcements at a meeting from memory (thinking chronogically helps – last week, today, this coming week). As you gain some experience, you'll build confidence for longer messages.

Mark Conner Personal

A Journal Begins

August 10th, 1978 was a tragic day for our family. I was 16 years of age. We had a Bible College student named Robert Muthman living with us in our home in Portland, Oregon (USA). Robert was swimming with some friends and he tragically drowned. We were shocked, as was his family and our whole church community. We couldn’t believe he was gone – so young, so much potential. Why? We didn’t know. We couldn’t fully understand.

Robert was passionate and ‘full on’ about his relationship with God. At his funeral they read from a journal he kept. It was almost like he had a premonition that he was going to die. He said things in his journal like, "If I can’t get closer to you, God, I want to come to heaven and be with you."

At the time, I was what I’d call a ‘casual Christian’ – going to church but not really living fully for God. Lukewarm – serving God in such as way as to not offend the devil. At his funeral I re-dedicated my life fully to God and, although I’ve had some valleys and some doubts along the way, I’ve never turned back since. His death was the catalyst for me giving all of my life for God.  I realised that life was short and I wanted to make my life count – for eternity.

I also went home that day and started my own journal – a journal of my relationship with God. I’m still keeping a journal today, almost 30 years later (I now use my computer, rather than a paper notebook). It is a place for me to write what I’m feeling, what I’m facing, and what God may be saying to me. It is a way for me to ‘externalise’ everything that is happening inside of me. At the end of every year I re-read my journal and summarise what God has done, what he has said, and what I’m learning.

My journal has been a crucial part of my relationship with God and my journey as a Christ-follower. Thanks Robert. You left a legacy in my life. Until we meet again …

Rev 1:19. Write down what you have seen — both the things that are now happening and the things that will happen later. NLT

Hab.2:1-3. I will climb up into my watchtower now and wait to see what the LORD will say to me and how he will answer my complaint. Then the LORD said to me, "Write my answer in large, clear letters on a tablet, so that a runner can read it and tell everyone else. But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. NLT

Mark Conner Personal

My Studies

One of my passions is personal growth. I want my life to be a life of 'progress' so that I develop my full potential (see 1 Tim.4:12-15). I want to be the very best I can be – for the glory of God and then benefit of other people.

 

Growth happens through personal study, learning from others, and through life experience. I have also found great benefit in formal training.

 

Right after I finished high school, I completed a two year Certificate of Theology at Portland Bible College in the USA. I wasn't sure about my future back then but this course, and the experiences I had, provided a very good foundation for my life and ministry.

 

Since then I've completed a Diploma of Business Management through Stotts College here in Melbourne (back when I was the Church Administrator). After that I completed a Master of Arts in Theology at Ridley College. These courses were all done part time over a period of years, fitting my studies around a full time job, as well as family and ministry life.

 

Right now I am almost finished a Doctor of Ministry degree through Fuller Theological Seminary in the USA. The DMin is a practical degree directly related to improving the practice of Christian ministry. I have really enjoyed this course and have learnt a lot through the training.

 

Here are the courses I have completed so far:

  1. Life and Leadership Development – with Terry Walling and Steve Addison
  2. Spirituality – with DallasWillard
  3. The Minister's Personal Growth – with Arch Hart
  4. Preaching – with Haddon Robinson and Rob Bell
  5. Church Multiplication – with Robert Logan

Each course involves 6 months of pre-reading (usually 3000 pages of material on the subject), 1-2 weeks of intensive 'in-class' time with the lecturer and a small group of students (12-25 people), followed by 6 months to complete a variety of assignments.

 

I'm now starting to work on my final project, which will be a Ministry Focus Paper. The topic I have chosen is 'A Strategy for Identifying and Developing Pastoral Leaders for CityLife Church'. This will specifically serve our ongoing growth as a church, especially with our multi-site strategy.

 

The Ministry Focus Paper final project is a 125-175 page document that has to be well researched. It includes three sections: an analysis of the local context, biblical and theological reflections on the topic, as well as a practical strategy for implementation.

 

All going well, I hope to finish my final project by November 2008, so I can graduate in June 2009. My aim is not so much for the title (Dr. Mark!) but for the ongoing education I'm receiving.

 

One of things I like about Fuller is that they are committed to lifelong learning. To enhance this, they offer graduates the opportunity to continue to audit any classes they are interested in for the rest of their life.

 

P.S. I have now finished my final project and attended my graduation. So I'm now officially 'Doctor Mark' 🙂 (June 2009)

 

Mark Conner Current Issues

Christians and Politics

God has called us as Christians to be ‘salt’ and ‘light’ in our world. This includes every sector of society, including government. It is exciting to see more and more Christians aspiring to roles in politics. This is so important as we need people with Christian values in these influential positions.

Some people are called to have a voice ‘in’ politics. Others are called to be a voice ‘into’ the political arena. One such person is Jim Wallace, director of the Australian Christian Lobby. Jim and the ACL are doing an outstanding job bringing a Christian perspective on the key moral and social issues of our day to the key political influencers of our nation.

Recently, the ACL gathered over 150 Christian and church leaders from a diverse range of the body of Christ to Canberra to meet with the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, and the Opposition Leader, Mr Kevin Rudd. The Prime Minister and Mr Rudd addressed the group and answered a variety of questions. I was privileged to be a part of this significant event.

Click here to see a full report of this event and to learn more about the ACL. I encourage you to support this important ministry – through prayer, voluntary involvement and even a financial donation.