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...
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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!
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
Jul 31, 20237 min read
Defining Key Terms: Marketplace Ministry
The Enduring Marketplace Author Neil Johnson defines the marketplace as "the forum through which human economic commerce is conducted."...
Mike Easton
Jul 27, 20234 min read
How to Communicate Missions Giving to Your Church Members
When you communicate and celebrate missions giving you communicate vision and priorities to your people.
Ashlyn Portero
Jul 24, 20235 min read
How to Inform the Church on the Impact of Their Giving
We as church leaders want to see our people practice radical generosity. We want our churches to be intentional and wise in directing...
Mike Easton
Jul 20, 20234 min read
Four Church Giving Practices for Supporting Global Missions
The budget is one of the best ways to reflect the values of a church. Giving to global missions usually falls in one of four categories.
Jared Burwell
Jul 17, 20235 min read
How to Address the Impact of Inflation on Giving
I still wince when I go to the grocery store to buy fruit or meat, remembering what those prices per pound used to be back when I...
Mike Easton
Jul 13, 20234 min read
When and How to Stop Financially Supporting Missions Partners
No missions leader enjoys the part of their job where they let go of partnerships financially. Inevitably, if you want to be a strategic sen
Jared Burwell
Jul 10, 20235 min read
Staying Connected While Far Away
I have the privilege of knowing and working with people around the world. Many of these people are expats serving in humanitarian,...
Mike Easton
Jul 6, 20233 min read
Why Giving to Global Missions Is Helpful for Your Church Budget
There are biblical and pragmatic reasons that giving to global missions is helpful for your church's budget.
Ryan Martin
Jul 3, 20235 min read
How to Think About Funding One-Time Requests
In 2 Corinthians 8, Paul testifies of the Macedonians that “according to their ability and even beyond their ability, of their own...
Larry McCrary
Jun 29, 20231 min read
Long-Term Missionary Care
I just ran into one of your missionaries and asked them to describe in one word the kind of care they have received from your church that...
Larry McCrary
Jun 26, 20234 min read
How Can the Sending Church and Organization Work Together in Missionary Care?
A sending church provides ongoing care in partnership with a missions organization by building a relational structure that nurtures the...
Bradley Bell
Jun 22, 20234 min read
A Practical Way to Structure Your Church’s Missionary Care
When I was six years old, my parents accidentally forgot me at church. Both of them had driven that day, and they simply pulled away...
Matthew Hirt
Jun 19, 20235 min read
Serving Sent Ones in Hard Places
Sending missionaries from your church is exciting, but caring for your sent ones long term is often very difficult. Caring for them when...
Caleb Alford
Jun 15, 20233 min read
Sending Does Not Mean Letting Go
Sending someone does not mean letting them go. It means holding on tight to the relationship so that the nations may know the glory of God.
Ryan Martin
Jun 12, 20236 min read
Post-Field Care: Plan, Presence, and Pathways to Reengagement
Post-field care can be the most challenging care for churches to provide. Missionaries come home for numerous reasons—scheduled visits,...
Ryan Martin
Jun 8, 20234 min read
On-Field Care: Prayer Is Not Just the Means to Do the Work—It Is the Work
“Prayer does not equip us for greater works—prayer is the greater work. Yet we think of prayer as some commonsense exercise of our higher...
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