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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!

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

10 Lessons I’ve Learned as a Missions Pastor

Nathan Sloan

Mar 16, 20235 min read

10 Lessons I’ve Learned as a Missions Pastor

As a missions pastor, these are ten things I have learned in my role as I have served my church.

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...

How to Prepare for a Virtual Short-Term Trip

Larry McCrary

Feb 2, 20233 min read

How to Prepare for a Virtual Short-Term Trip

If you’re considering planning a virtual short-term trip, here are some things you might consider as you plan and prepare.

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.

Choose Your National Church Partner Wisely

Ellen Livingood

Oct 31, 20224 min read

Choose Your National Church Partner Wisely

The following is adapted from Your Focus on the World by Catalyst Services. This book includes guidelines on building church-to-church...

Together on Mission with God: Principles and Practices of Healthy Partnerships

Joshua Bowman

Oct 10, 20224 min read

Together on Mission with God: Principles and Practices of Healthy Partnerships

Cross-cultural partnerships happen because they mutually submit to King Jesus. Here are principles and practices of healthy partnerships.

Together on Mission with God: A Definition for Partnership

Joshua Bowman

Oct 6, 20224 min read

Together on Mission with God: A Definition for Partnership

Cross-cultural missional partnership is a kingdom-oriented relationship of culturally diverse groups of believers who share common values.

Together on Mission with God: A Biblical Basis for Partnership

Joshua Bowman

Oct 3, 20224 min read

Together on Mission with God: A Biblical Basis for Partnership

Partnership is necessary because the gospel is universally relevant and provides the plan of redemption for sinners separated from God.

Creative Ways to Cultivate Awareness, Pt. I

Dave & Lorene Wilson

Aug 15, 20226 min read

Creative Ways to Cultivate Awareness, Pt. I

After serving in the church as a missions pastor for more than twenty years, I am often amused when I reflect on the variety of failures...

Fully Funded or Support Raised? The Pros and Cons of Each, Pt. II

Bradley Bell

Jul 11, 20226 min read

Fully Funded or Support Raised? The Pros and Cons of Each, Pt. II

I have been a support-raised missionary. It’s pretty awesome. Here are some of the challenges, along with a few pleasant surprises.

Fully Funded or Support Raised? The Pros and Cons of Each, Pt. I

Bradley Bell

Jul 7, 20226 min read

Fully Funded or Support Raised? The Pros and Cons of Each, Pt. I

Being a fully-funded missionary is pretty awesome. Here are some of the benefits, along with a few unpleasant surprises.

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...

David Wilson

Jan 20, 20225 min read

Questions to Ask a Sending Organization

What a Former Missions Pastor (Who Now Serves an Agency) Wishes He Had Known to Ask In scripture, we learn that the Church is being...

Mike Easton

Jan 10, 20224 min read

Writing an MOU

There’s a lot of things in life that are really important but are also kind of boring: mowing the lawn, doing the laundry, filling out...