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UPSTREAM BLOG
The Upstream Blog is published two times a week and contains content from missions leaders, pastors, missiologists, and the Upstream team on a wide variety of topics pertaining to being a sending church. Leave us some comments or questions!
Global South: Church Engagement Strategies
As the church has moved south and east, the face of Christianity has changed.[1] If Western Christians want to work towards fulfilling...
Anna Daub
Nov 20, 20234 min read
How to Communicate Missions Giving to Your Church Members
When you communicate and celebrate missions giving you communicate vision and priorities to your people.
Mike Easton
Jul 27, 20234 min read
How to Inform the Church on the Impact of Their Giving
We as church leaders want to see our people practice radical generosity. We want our churches to be intentional and wise in directing...
Ashlyn Portero
Jul 24, 20235 min read
Four Church Giving Practices for Supporting Global Missions
The budget is one of the best ways to reflect the values of a church. Giving to global missions usually falls in one of four categories.
Mike Easton
Jul 20, 20234 min read
How to Address the Impact of Inflation on Giving
I still wince when I go to the grocery store to buy fruit or meat, remembering what those prices per pound used to be back when I...
Jared Burwell
Jul 17, 20235 min read
When and How to Stop Financially Supporting Missions Partners
No missions leader enjoys the part of their job where they let go of partnerships financially. Inevitably, if you want to be a strategic sen
Mike Easton
Jul 13, 20234 min read
Why Giving to Global Missions Is Helpful for Your Church Budget
There are biblical and pragmatic reasons that giving to global missions is helpful for your church's budget.
Mike Easton
Jul 6, 20233 min read
How to Think About Funding One-Time Requests
In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul testifies of the Macedonians that “according to their ability and even beyond their ability, of their own...
Ryan Martin
Jul 3, 20235 min read
Three Reasons to Make Disciples in Local Languages
Here are three reasons that we must be committed to language learning and disciple-making in the language of the heart.
Matthew Bennett
Feb 16, 20234 min read
Short-Term Fueling Long-Term Missions
Short-term missions provides the context through which the church can prepare and propel future missionaries for a lifetime of service
Ryan Martin
Jan 12, 20236 min read
A Sending Church, Someday
I stood with my hands opened before me, eager to receive the word of benediction: “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his...
Nathan Shaver
Sep 12, 20224 min read
Leveraging Your Missions Funds Most Effectively in a Small Church
For eighteen years I spent the first hour of my day listening to country music. My mom’s alarm clock was set (loudly) to the local...
Bradley Bell
Jul 28, 20223 min read
How Much Should the Sending Church Give to Their Sent Ones?
The question of what percentage of funds a sending church should give their Sent Ones can be tricky to answer, and there is certainly no...
Larry McCrary
Jul 25, 20225 min read
Marketplace Ministry from Experience, Pt. III
Self-Funding Missions Before and After Retirement Click here for part one of this article series and here for part two. Wise Advice When...
Shirley Ralston
Jul 21, 20225 min read
Marketplace Ministry from Experience, Pt. II
Make the Most of Your Foreign Assignment Click here for part one of this article series. Engage in Marketplace Ministry If God has led...
Shirley Ralston
Jul 18, 20226 min read
Marketplace Ministry from Experience, Pt. I
Expatriates: Our Accidental Pathway to Missions Life in the Oil Patch A poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs...
Shirley Ralston
Jul 14, 20224 min read
Upcoming Upstream Book: Holding the Rope
This is an excerpt from the forthcoming book Holding the Rope: How the Local Church Can Care for Its Sent Ones by Ryan Martin, set to be...
Ryan Martin
Jun 28, 20226 min read
Aligning Local and Global Missions Engagement
The following is an adapted excerpt from The Sending Church Defined. A Holistic Mission Think globally, act locally. Chances are, you’ve...
Bradley Bell
May 16, 20225 min read
Organizing Your Missions Leadership Team
Many churches have a mission team or committee that is too narrowly focused in its responsibilities and primarily tasked with overseeing...
Larry McCrary
Mar 1, 20224 min read
How to Develop a Cross-Cultural Partnership
In a previous blog post, I defined cross-cultural missional partnership as a kingdom-oriented relationship of culturally diverse groups...
Joshua Bowman
Jan 13, 20224 min read
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