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...
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UPSTREAM BLOG
The Upstream Collective 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!
Joshua Bowman
- Nov 13
- 5 min
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...
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Chris Howles
- Nov 6
- 5 min
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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Eric & Andrea Warren
- Oct 30
- 5 min
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....
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Matthew Hirt
- Oct 2
- 5 min
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...
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Bruce Mewbourne
- May 22
- 5 min
Providing Cross Cultural Opportunities Locally
Immigration and migration represent a Great Commission opportunity for the church. Migration is not a new phenomenon. A casual reading of...
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Chris Howles
- May 15
- 5 min
How National Christians Can Bless and Teach Western Churches
Have you ever heard of a “truncated icosahedron”? If not don’t worry—you’re not alone. I’m informed it’s a “bitruncated order-5...
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Matthew Hirt
- May 8
- 5 min
Worldview Discovery as an Evangelistic Tool
We all possess a unique worldview that shapes how we perceive and understand the world around us. Scripture challenges all of our...
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Matthew Bennett
- Feb 27
- 4 min
Three Keys To Witness as Worship: Evangelism in a Marketing-Weary World
Today, everything is marketing. Everything about you can be monetized. Your social media accounts gather data to be sold to advertising...
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The Upstream Collective
- Feb 20
- 2 min
Overcoming the Distance: Crossing Barriers to the Gospel
This article is provided by guest contributor Ernest Goodman. It originally appeared under the same title on Missions Misunderstood and...
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The Upstream Collective
- Nov 28, 2022
- 6 min
Adventures with Larry & Caleb: What Are the Key Things That Help You in Contextualizing the Gospel?
Upstream co-founders Larry McCrary and Caleb Crider are living in very different places: for Larry, Madrid, Spain; for Caleb, Richmond,...
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Anna Daub
- Nov 21, 2022
- 5 min
How to Do Missions in the Global South
Christianity continues to blossom in the Global South.[1] Our missions strategies and methodologies, while remaining unyieldingly planted...
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Matthew Hirt
- Nov 14, 2022
- 5 min
Why and How to Do Missions to the Global South
As we come alongside brothers and sisters around the world to engage in the missionary task, we need new terms and categories to describe...
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Luke T.
- Nov 7, 2022
- 3 min
Training Church Members for Cross-Cultural Living in Everyday Life
Discipleship 101: Pray, read your Bible, go to church, participate in cross-cultural training . . . Wait, what? Isn’t that the kind of...
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Bradley Bell
- Nov 3, 2022
- 5 min
So You Wanna Be a Missionary—Who Are You Discipling?
I love the enthusiasm I encounter among aspiring missionaries. It drips from them like water from your hands when there are no paper...
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Ellen Livingood
- Oct 31, 2022
- 4 min
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...
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Ryan Martin
- Jul 31, 2022
- 6 min
Cultivating Missions Awareness
A little over a year ago, my family and I transitioned churches. This was not the first time either my wife or I had sought a new church...
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Shirley Ralston
- Jul 18, 2022
- 6 min
Marketplace Ministry from Experience, Pt. II
Make the Most of Your Foreign Assignment Click here for part one of this article series. Engage in Marketplace Ministry If God has led...
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Bradley Bell
- May 16, 2022
- 5 min
Aligning Local and Global Missions Engagement
The following is an adapted excerpt from The Sending Church Defined. A Holistic Mission Think globally, act locally. Chances are, you’ve...
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Mark Mihalyov
- May 12, 2022
- 4 min
The Art of Being Bi-Cultural in an American Context
Being a bi-cultural Christ-follower means being able to comfortably move in and out of cultures, sometimes even a variety of cultures....
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