Blog | The Upstream Collective

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!

Year-End Evaluation & Reflection Resources

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...

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...

Chris Howles

Nov 6, 20235 min read

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...

The Joy of Welcoming Internationals for Thanksgiving

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....

Questions for Evaluating On-Field Partners

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...

Cross-Cultural Missional Partnership: Some Perils of Neglect

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...

A Liturgy for Responding to International Tragedy

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...

Cultivating Missions Awareness, Part Four

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...

Cultivating Missions Awareness, Part Three

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...

Cultivating Missions Awareness, Part Two

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.

Cultivating Missions Awareness, Part One

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...

Marketplace Workers: Fuel for Limitless Sending

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...