11-Getting Missionaries Established

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!

Hope for When Missionaries Come Home Early

Mike Easton

Jul 29, 20244 min read

Hope for When Missionaries Come Home Early

If you’ve had the opportunity to send overseas missionaries from your church for long, you have undoubtedly seen some return early from thei

Global South: Church Engagement Strategies

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...

Joshua Bowman

Nov 13, 20235 min read

Defining Key Terms: Culture Shock

Upon arriving in South Asia, I began to embrace the challenging task of driving on a different side of the road with exponentially more...

Three Keys To Witness as Worship: Evangelism in a Marketing-Weary World

Matthew Bennett

Feb 27, 20234 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...

Blood on Both Ends of the Rope: Reflections on the Gains and Losses of Transition

Bradley Bell

Feb 23, 20233 min read

Blood on Both Ends of the Rope: Reflections on the Gains and Losses of Transition

I will go down, if you will hold the rope. This great quote of William Carey has continued echoing in my soul since I first heard it. The...

Overcoming the Distance: Crossing Barriers to the Gospel

The Upstream Collective

Feb 20, 20232 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...

Three Reasons to Make Disciples in Local Languages

Matthew Bennett

Feb 16, 20234 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.

Ashlyn Portero

Feb 13, 20235 min read

Caring for Sent Ones in the First Year

When I served as an advocate for sent ones in my home church, there was a story I recalled often (and still do) that captured who I hoped...

Language Learning beyond Babel: The Biblical Redemption of Local Languages

Matthew Bennett

Feb 9, 20234 min read

Language Learning beyond Babel: The Biblical Redemption of Local Languages

I hope that we never let go of the strategic value of learning language as missionaries seeking to demonstrate that the gospel is for all.

Getting Sent Ones Established—As Committed Church Members

Jason Apon

Feb 6, 20235 min read

Getting Sent Ones Established—As Committed Church Members

Some missionaries go up to a mountain village to evangelize secluded cattle ranchers. For a day or two, these self-invited Christian...

Adventures with Larry & Caleb: What Are the Key Things That Help You in Contextualizing the Gospel?

The Upstream Collective

Nov 28, 20226 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,...

Training Sent Ones for Multiplicative Discipleship

Mike Easton

Nov 10, 20223 min read

Training Sent Ones for Multiplicative Discipleship

We should teach our future missionaries the principles of multiplicative discipleship no matter which church model they encounter.

Exploring Alternative Pathways to Missions

Larry McCrary

Oct 24, 20225 min read

Exploring Alternative Pathways to Missions

Fourth Church is situated in a midsize city in the midwest. Their city has seen a lot of growth the last few years as people have moved...

How Much Should the Sending Church Give to Their Sent Ones?

Larry McCrary

Jul 25, 20225 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...

Supporting Single Missionaries in the Wake of Covid

Anna Daub

Feb 28, 20225 min read

Supporting Single Missionaries in the Wake of Covid

Almost two years ago, after watching the Covid virus spread across the globe, many governments responded by closing their borders and...

Ryan Martin

Feb 24, 20225 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...

Lamentations as the Textbook for Newly Arrived Missionaries

Bradley Bell

Feb 21, 20226 min read

Lamentations as the Textbook for Newly Arrived Missionaries

I just finished reading Jeremiah and Lamentations. Boy, am I glad that’s over! Ever feel that way? If it weren’t for reading plans, there...

Joshua Bowman

Feb 17, 20224 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...

How to Care for Sent-Ones Learning a Second Foreign Language

Matthew Hirt

Feb 14, 20225 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...

Learning a Foreign Language in a City that Speaks English

Kyle Brosseau

Feb 10, 20224 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...