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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!
Mike Easton
Nov 27, 20232 min read
Year-End Evaluation & Reflection Resources
As we come to the end of the year, it’s a valuable time to reflect on the work God has done in 2023 and look forward to the work he will...
Anna Daub
Nov 20, 20234 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...
Mike Easton
Oct 23, 20234 min read
Questions for Evaluating On-Field Partners
My parents did a great job of teaching me how to work at a young age. In fourth grade I had an after-school paper route. (For those of...
Joshua Bowman
Oct 19, 20234 min read
Cross-Cultural Missional Partnership: Some Perils of Neglect
The one-sided reality of failed cross-cultural partnerships may lead to the following errors.
Bruce Mewbourne
Oct 16, 20235 min read
How to Choose the Right Partners
“We seek partnership with your church in reaching souls with the Word of God in …” If you’ve led your church in missions engagement, you...
Mike Easton
Oct 9, 20234 min read
Why Empower National Partners
One of the great joys of being a missions leader is getting to travel and see the work of God in the least-reached places of the world....
The Upstream Collective
Oct 5, 20234 min read
Mobilization Requires Partnership
This post was originally published in 2016 as part of our "Ask a Missiologist" series. With years of experience as a church missions...
Matthew Hirt
Oct 2, 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...
Larry McCrary
Aug 31, 20234 min read
Marketplace Workers: Fuel for Limitless Sending
Limitless sending from the global church for the glory of God among the nations? Yes, please! If that’s the goal, myriad pathways will be...
Shirley Ralston
Aug 28, 20235 min read
Mobilizing Marketplace Workers in Your Local Church
As a returned global worker, I occasionally get this request from our church’s mission’s office: “We had a visit from someone about to...
Hatley Hambrice
Aug 21, 20233 min read
Sending BAM Individuals from Your Church
How do you know if you are qualified and ready to practice business as mission (BAM)? Many members of our churches already have...
The Upstream Collective
Aug 17, 20232 min read
Assessing Marketplace Worker Candidates
It is wise to assess members of your church who want to live and work overseas with intentionality.
Sean German
Aug 14, 20236 min read
Marketplace Opportunities in Missions
“What do you mean I don’t have to choose between work and missions?” Michael* (name changed for security) was initially perplexed as I...
Larry McCrary
Aug 10, 20234 min read
Global Professionals Can Reach the World for Christ
Let me tell you a little about Joe. Joe was a business student at a university in the U.S. He spent one semester studying abroad in an...
Hatley Hambrice
Aug 7, 20234 min read
Using BAM to Impact Unreached Peoples
Business as Mission (BAM) is becoming a popular strategy in countries around the world today. BAM is a holistic ministry model that...
Larry McCrary
Aug 3, 20237 min read
Don’t Quit Your Day Job: The Value of Marketplace Workers
The following article is a correspondence between our Executive Director, Larry McCrary, and marketplace worker Seth Kelly about his...
Shirley Ralston
Jan 16, 20238 min read
Five Reasons to Revisit Your Partners
Trips with Purpose - Intention to Care Last year, two of my family members participated in a short-term trip to one of our church’s...
Mike Easton
Dec 12, 20223 min read
Letting Go of Partners
In our previous blog post, “Year-End Partner Evaluations,” we gave a template for evaluating partners. What do you do if the evaluation...
Mike Easton
Dec 5, 20224 min read
Year-End Partner Evaluations
In October, our theme was partnerships. What agency we partner with, what local field workers we partner with, who we partner with to...
Ellen Livingood
Oct 31, 20224 min read
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...
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