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!

Mobilizing Marketplace Workers in Your Local Church

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...

Sending BAM Individuals from Your Church

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...

Global Professionals Can Reach the World for Christ

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...

Don’t Quit Your Day Job: The Value of Marketplace Workers

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...

Defining Key Terms: Marketplace Ministry

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."...

How to Communicate Missions Giving to Your Church Members

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.

How to Inform the Church on the Impact of Their Giving

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...

Four Church Giving Practices for Supporting Global Missions

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.

How to Address the Impact of Inflation on Giving

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...

When and How to Stop Financially Supporting Missions Partners

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,...

Why Giving to Global Missions Is Helpful for Your Church Budget

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.

How to Think About Funding One-Time Requests

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...

How Can the Sending Church and Organization Work Together in Missionary Care?

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...

A Practical Way to Structure Your Church’s Missionary Care

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...