12-Providing Ongoing Care

Upstream Blog

The Upstream Blog has a range of short articles on various topics around sending. Look through the tags to discover articles that meet your need.

Human beings all have needs, and those who live cross-culturally are no exception. We can meet each other’s needs in many ways. I have...

I once had a turtle named Fred. Fred liked to eat watermelon. But I went on vacation and forgot to leave Fred any watermelon. When I came...

When you have a struggle in life, who do you go to? Is it a friend? A pastor? An older man or woman? A counselor? When someone in your...

The role of advocacy teams has become increasingly vital to global missions and church planting as a means of caring for missionaries as...

I’m a World War II history nerd. I have watched almost every documentary out there on this time period. As the largest conflict in...

Many third-culture kids (TCKs) return to their passport country to pursue higher education. Some do so due to language, some due to...

What would you do if one of your children decided to become a cross-cultural missionary? The kind that wants to move to dangerous places...

I have the privilege of knowing and working with people around the world. Many of these people are expats serving in humanitarian,...

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...

A sending church provides ongoing care in partnership with a missions organization by building a relational structure that nurtures the...

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...

Sending missionaries from your church is exciting, but caring for your sent ones long term is often very difficult. Caring for them when...

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.

Post-field care can be the most challenging care for churches to provide. Missionaries come home for numerous reasons—scheduled visits,...

“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...

Church leaders should recruit like coaches. Successful coaches know what type of players they want, and instead of waiting for them to...

Rarely do children wake up and say, “I want to move across the world and leave my home and friends so my family can tell people about...

Mental health has become a major focus in our post-COVID world, as rates of depression, suicide, and anxiety are climbing at alarming...

When I served as an advocate for sent ones in my home church, there was a story I recalled often (and still do) that captured who I hoped...

I can do real damage with something as simple as a screwdriver. Just a couple of weeks ago, I managed to get a screw jammed halfway into...