#missionwork

for context, I have 17 years of intensive christian education, including a bachelor's degree, and spent 10 years working in an american lutheran denomination, ecumenical spaces, and i'm deeply familiar with catholicism, academically and personally. what i am going to say here does not mean there are not good, loving, affirming christians or catholics. there are. but the ones in power? that ain't them.

so we're clear, there is no good pope. no pope is going to be the culture changer you hope for. not francis, not chicago style leo, none of them, because in order to get to the rank of cardinal, by necessity you have upheld colonialism, cultural extermination, forced birth policies, "merit-based" poverty relief, sexual abuse, misogyny, and queer persecution. bare minimum. that's why the only candidates for the papacy are old white men.

the papacy is about power, and the history of christian imperialism. and you should be bothered, not comforted, that the new pope is american and was a missionary for much of his career. i've lived with missionaries, worked with them, been friends with them. they are the kindest, cruelest, most compassionate lawful good sort of dangerous there is. they will lovingly stab you in the heart and watch you bleed out, bathing the wound and praising you because this death will save your soul. they have suffered for the truth they believe, which in the case of most christian mission work is that we all must suffer and all must be saved, and salvation comes at a terrible price. the advertising says jesus paid the price but ask any indigenous community and you will hear a very different story. ask anyone living their truth who is then confronted with conservative theology.

silence on certain issues is not approval, particularly not in positions of power. silence is an action against you. queer folx, take note, a christian who is silent about your rights does not believe you should have them. they just hope you won't notice who's tying the noose. pope said jd vance doesn't understand love? fine. do not take that to mean he'll defend the rights of the people being persecuted. not if they are theologically opposed to his beliefs.

I am all for the hot dog memes and the paper formatting jokes. it's history and we should get a laugh, but now, especially if you are queer, if you need access to reproductive rights, if you are part of a non-christian culture, you should above all be wary.

new pope might not like the u.s. leadership, but he has no problem with barring the rights of queer folks and restricting medical care.

 The past few years I've noticed that our society is plagued by a crisis.  That crisis is that people are turning to drugs and other substances. After a while, people are falling victim to addiction.  I feel that men are really struggling with addiction in our society today. Whether it's opioids, cocaine, alcohol, marijuana or other substances, these men are struggling.  My personal belief is that some men deal with these issues because they did not have a strong male role model in their life while they were growing up. I feel that many kids growing up do not have a strong and positive male role model in their life.  This can cause a multitude of issues. One of these issues is that these kids may not like to listen to or respect male authority figures such as police, teachers and even God. Something must be done to give people hope.

 I personally did not think that addiction was a big deal in our society, at first.  I first thought these people are ruining their lives and that was all I thought.  I personally gained a different view towards people struggling with substance abuse when my cousin died of an overdose.  I learned that those who are struggling with substance abuse are people. People who have dreams and goals just like anyone else.  Where I feel that they differ is that people have given up on them or they feel that people have given up on them. Everyone needs to feel loved and cared for.  Otherwise, there really is nothing to live for especially if they do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I recently got an internship with City Gospel Mission working in the Men’s Addiction Recovery Program.  I sought out this internship because I felt called to find a way to share the hope and love of Jesus with men who are struggling with addiction. I want to show to them that people still care about them and that they have something worth living for and that is being a light.  I will also be a tutor for a young boy in the Whiz Kids program. I chose to be a tutor in this program because I know that young boys need a positive role model to help them. I feel like that I can positively impact a young person’s life through this program.

 I am asking you to pray about your involvement and support in my internship with City Gospel Mission.  First, and most importantly, I’m asking you to pray for me, my internship, and the people I will be serving.  Secondly, if you would like to join me as a volunteer, City Gospel Mission has countless opportunities to get involved.  Finally, I am raising my own support, much like a missionary, to fund my internship.  I am asking you to pray about making a tax-deductible donation to City Gospel Mission in my name.  Your gift can be set up as a monthly, quarterly, or one-time donation.  Please visit my GoFundMe page at https://miscellaneous.everydayhero.com/us/tannerhaller to learn more about my internship and how you can support me.  Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or if you would like additional information.

 May God bless you and your family.

We (Christians) all like to talk about things like unity, community, the body of Christ, family in Christ, the global Church, and on and on. In fact, we talk about it so much that you’d think we’d tell you how to do any of that.

Because here’s the truth- we’re not so good at being unified these days. We spend a lot of time trying to prove that we’re not like “those” Christians or criticizing our brothers and sisters in Christ that seem less committed and not as perfect as us in our own eyes. I’d go so far as to say that unity isn’t a priority at all in the modern church. Spiritual denominations and physical borders separate us from each other. Those that have begun to see this as an actual problem stand on street corners and shout at us to get our act together, but even they aren’t really doing anything to help the problem or find the solution. We ask each other to change, saying “if you would just have our worldview and our customs, we could totally get along with you!”

Listen up brothers and sisters- Unity has a price. If we want to truly become one community, we have to have a funeral before we have a wedding.

Think about it this way: When two people get married, they don’t just squish together two individuals. Rather, two people give up their individual selves and become one body together. The same has to happen for us to become one body as a Church. While there are some truths that we should never compromise on and some people who aren’t truly following God that we should rebuke, we are called to sacrifice our comforts and preferences to join with the global body of believers. For example, you may love modern music, but worshipping with a different group of people may require you to learn some old hymns or even music in a different language.

As you all know, I recently spent time in El Salvador working with a Christian organization in Cuidad Delgado (part of San Salvador). While this organization was doing many wonderful things in the community, no organization is perfect and I saw some harmful ideas about what it means to be a Christian practiced in their ministry. Instead of accepting their culture and conforming to their worship practices, many of the missionaries expected the community to become more american. They saw the american christian worldview and customs as the only correct way to know and worship God. Yet God is not the God of America. America does not matter much to God. People matter to God, not national boundary lines. The way we worship isn’t the “right way,” it’s simply our way. When we go into other cultures to do ministry, we need to meet them where they are, not as a lesser people but as a unique and therefore different people.

Unity requires sacrifice. It requires us to give up our comfort zone.

So let’s put this into practice: When you meet other christians with different experiences remember to listen to them, accept them, and learn from them. Stop expecting to people to agree with you all the time, but rather listen to their perspectives to grow your own worldview. Stop asking people to change to join your church or social group, instead see diversity as an asset rather than a risk. Stop worrying about doing things the way they’ve always been done, because those new ideas and new perspectives and new ways of life could be better than your old traditions.

Stay tuned for how to start doing this on an individual level next post.

Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12 I woke up at 4:58 with an old school gospel song by the Mississippi Mass Choir. The song is entitled “When I Rose this morning.” If you’ve never heard it, I urge you to jump start your morning and listen to it. I’m telling you, you won’t need Red Bull to…