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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!
Choose Your National Church Partner Wisely
The following is adapted from Your Focus on the World by Catalyst Services. This book includes guidelines on building church-to-church...
Ellen Livingood
Oct 31, 20224 min read
Cultivating Missions Awareness Through Local International Ministry
A little over a year ago, my family and I transitioned churches. This was not the first time either my wife or I had sought a new church...
Ryan Martin
Aug 1, 20226 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
The Art of Being Bi-Cultural in an American Context
Being a bi-cultural Christ-follower means being able to comfortably move in and out of cultures, sometimes even a variety of cultures....
Mark Zwemer
May 12, 20224 min read
Reaching Oral Learners with the Gospel
If you stepped into my office, you could make two observations about me—I love to travel, and I love to read. I have collected many...
Ryan Martin
Feb 24, 20225 min read
Avoiding Paternalism
Parents are God’s kind provision to infants and children who have no concept of personal safety and cannot provide for their own basic...
Joshua Bowman
Feb 17, 20224 min read
How to Care for Sent-Ones Learning a Second Foreign Language
The missionary task requires understandable communication of the gospel. Depending on the context and the complexity of the language...
Matthew Hirt
Feb 14, 20225 min read
Learning a Foreign Language in a City that Speaks English
During my first missionary term in South Asia, I relished the opportunity to dive deep into the culture and begin learning the local...
Kyle Brosseau
Feb 10, 20224 min read
How to Hit the Ground Running in Language Learning, Part 2
In part 1, we went through some mistakes missionaries often make with language learning. Now let’s look at the missionaries who succeed...
Andrea W.
Feb 7, 20225 min read
How to Hit the Ground Running in Language Learning, Part 1
Many missionaries start out motivated to learn and engage in the new language and culture around them. Unfortunately, those aspirations...
Andrea W.
Feb 3, 20224 min read
Troubled Waters: Reasons International Partnerships Go Awry
In today’s connected world, churches, missions organizations, and missionaries work with partners from nations around the globe. Some of...
Anna Daub
Jan 31, 20224 min read
Missionary, Choose the Posture of a Learner
Imagine you’re sitting in a coffee shop reading your Bible. Each time you take a sip of your coffee, you notice a stranger staring at...
Bradley Bell
Jan 17, 20225 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
Posturing Oneself as a Cross-Cultural Worker
Your palms are a bit clammy. Your heart is racing. Your eyes dart to and fro, searching the area for something or someone familiar. You...
Susan McCrary
Nov 15, 20213 min read
Forming Outwardly Focused Followers
One of the most exciting moments for church missions leaders is when someone in the body expresses a call from God to serve...
Jonah Fox
Nov 11, 20215 min read
Sharing the Gospel Cross-Culturally: You Don't Have to Be an Expert
You don’t have to be an expert to share the hope of the gospel with someone who is much different than you.
Meredith Cook
Nov 1, 20215 min read
The Keys to Conducting Ethnographic Research: Part 2
Ethnographic research is a tremendous way to better understand how God is at work in the life of a person or a community.
Lisa Hoff
May 21, 20206 min read
The Keys to Conducting Ethnographic Research: Part 1
Ethnographic research can be done by anyone and can lead to a more effective and efficient ministry.
Lisa Hoff
May 18, 20204 min read
Taking the Attitude of a Learner as You Prepare to Move Overseas
Those who plan to work overseas need to have a learner’s attitude and make changes in how they live in preparation for life abroad.
Larry McCrary
May 11, 20205 min read
Guts and Glory in the Service of God
When we are a part of Christ’s legacy, our lives are intertwined with his glory because we are in him.
Andy Jansen
Apr 20, 20204 min read
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