Defining Terms: The Great Commission
Once while I was living in Uganda, I watched my Bible college students destroy an old termite mound. It looked to me just like a pile of...
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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!
Eric & Andrea Warren
Oct 30, 20235 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....
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...
Bradley Bell
Oct 12, 20233 min read
A Liturgy for Responding to International Tragedy
The following liturgy was adapted by Bradley Bell from “A Liturgy for Grieving a National Tragedy” in Every Moment Holy, Volume II:...
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...
Bradley Bell
Sep 28, 20238 min read
Cultivating Missions Awareness, Part Four
SENDING CHURCH ELEMENT 01: CULTIVATING MISSIONS AWARENESS The church becomes progressively aware of the lost world around them, both...
Bradley Bell
Sep 21, 20236 min read
Cultivating Missions Awareness, Part Three
SENDING CHURCH ELEMENT 01: CULTIVATING MISSIONS AWARENESS The church becomes progressively aware of the lost world around them, both...
Mike Easton
Sep 18, 20235 min read
Lunch and Learns
At the end of Paul’s first missionary journey, there is a wonderful, descriptive paragraph on what Paul and Barnabas did as they returned...
Larry McCrary
Sep 14, 20233 min read
Cultivating Missions Awareness, Part Two
Sending Church Element 01: Cultivating Missions Awareness The church becomes progressively aware of the lost world around them, both...
Mike Easton
Sep 11, 20234 min read
Why You Need a Sending Pipeline
Do your church’s programs have an end in mind? A sending pipeline provides a framework for evaluating your programs.
Andy Jansen
Sep 7, 20234 min read
Cultivating Missions Awareness, Part One
Sending Church Element 01: Cultivating Missions Awareness The church becomes progressively aware of the lost world around them, both...
Christian Townson
Sep 4, 20234 min read
Personalizing Your Awareness Strategies
“How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how...
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.
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