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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!
How the Evil One Blinds Us to the Mission, Pt. II
I have many lingering impressions from forty years of missionary service and the privilege of leading the largest missionary-sending...
Jerry Rankin
Dec 9, 20244 min read
How the Evil One Blinds Us to the Mission, Pt. I
After twenty-three years of missionary work in Southeast Asia, I had a great deal of experience and insight into mission strategy, but...
Jerry Rankin
Dec 2, 20245 min read
Preparing TCKs for a Cross-Cultural Move
Setting children up to thrive during a cross-cultural move
Abigail Newport
Nov 4, 20245 min read
Vetting National Partners
See our previous articles on the why and how of funding national partners or organizations and on how to find them . Vetting indigenous...
Josh Duncan
Oct 28, 20245 min read
Finding National Partners
The importance of finding national partners is worth embracing the inevitable challenges for the sake of obeying the Great Commission.
Josh Duncan
Oct 21, 20245 min read
The New Roman Road: Engaging in Disciple-Making Virtually
Despite present barriers to entry in countries around the world, the internet provides access to people in the most unreached places.
Adam M.
Jun 10, 20245 min read
Confessions of a “Fix-It Father”
What would you do if one of your children decided to become a cross-cultural missionary? The kind that wants to move to dangerous places...
Mark Zwemer
Jan 29, 20244 min read
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
The Joy of Welcoming Internationals for Thanksgiving
Inviting international friends to Thanksgiving is one of the best cross-cultural missions opportunities available to American Christians....
Eric & Andrea Warren
Oct 30, 20235 min read
Building Healthy Multinational Teams
A young man from a West African country asked me, “How can I be a missionary? Missionaries do not come from my place.” The only...
Matthew Hirt
Oct 2, 20235 min read
Providing Cross Cultural Opportunities Locally
Immigration and migration represent a Great Commission opportunity for the church. Migration is not a new phenomenon. A casual reading of...
Bruce Mewbourne
May 22, 20235 min read
How National Christians Can Bless and Teach Western Churches
Have you ever heard of a “truncated icosahedron”? If not don’t worry—you’re not alone. I’m informed it’s a “bitruncated order-5...
Chris Howles
May 15, 20235 min read
Worldview Discovery as an Evangelistic Tool
We all possess a unique worldview that shapes how we perceive and understand the world around us. Scripture challenges all of our...
Matthew Hirt
May 8, 20235 min read
Three Keys To Witness as Worship: Evangelism in a Marketing-Weary World
Today, everything is marketing. Everything about you can be monetized. Your social media accounts gather data to be sold to advertising...
Matthew Bennett
Feb 27, 20234 min read
Overcoming the Distance: Crossing Barriers to the Gospel
This article is provided by guest contributor Ernest Goodman. It originally appeared under the same title on Missions Misunderstood and...
The Upstream Collective
Feb 20, 20232 min read
Adventures with Larry & Caleb: What Are the Key Things That Help You in Contextualizing the Gospel?
Upstream co-founders Larry McCrary and Caleb Crider are living in very different places: for Larry, Madrid, Spain; for Caleb, Richmond,...
The Upstream Collective
Nov 28, 20226 min read
How to Do Missions in the Global South
Christianity continues to blossom in the Global South.[1] Our missions strategies and methodologies, while remaining unyieldingly planted...
Anna Daub
Nov 21, 20226 min read
Why and How to Do Missions to the Global South
As we come alongside brothers and sisters around the world to engage in the missionary task, we need new terms and categories to describe...
Matthew Hirt
Nov 14, 20225 min read
Training Church Members for Cross-Cultural Living in Everyday Life
Discipleship 101: Pray, read your Bible, go to church, participate in cross-cultural training . . . Wait, what? Isn’t that the kind of...
Luke T.
Nov 7, 20223 min read
So You Wanna Be a Missionary—Who Are You Discipling?
I love the enthusiasm I encounter among aspiring missionaries. It drips from them like water from your hands when there are no paper...
Bradley Bell
Nov 3, 20225 min read
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