Sending Church Foundations

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.

Do your church’s programs have an end in mind? A sending pipeline provides a framework for evaluating your programs.

Being part of The Upstream Collective means learning from sending churches around the world. Honestly, it means I do a lot less...

In this article I want to convince you of two things: that missions decisions can exhaust you, and that missions convictions can refresh...

THE FOLLOWING IS A GUEST POST FROM JOSH BAYLOR (@JOSHBAYLOR). JOSH SERVES AS A CHURCH PLANTER IN DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY. (Continued from...

THE FOLLOWING IS A GUEST POST FROM JOSH BAYLOR (@JOSHBAYLOR). JOSH SERVES AS A CHURCH PLANTER IN DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY. (Continued from...

No one has the right to hear the gospel twice, while there is someone who hasn’t heard it once. –Oswald J. Smith Occasionally it hits me...

I stood with my hands opened before me, eager to receive the word of benediction: “The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his...

A few months ago, I had a conversation with the editorial director of one of today’s most highly trafficked Christian websites. I thanked...

Recently, I was on a personal retreat at a nearby monastery. With my Bible and journal in hand, I tiptoed away to the surrounding knobby...

“Does the sending church conversation unhelpfully exclude or deemphasize the universal church or the parachurch?” The Development of...

I love the sending church. That’s why I’ve devoted my life to it. So why would I want to talk about the dangers of it? First, because it...

A turning point in our education came during a conversation with Upstream Collective about an element we lacked called Missions Convictions

Here are some questions to ask to develop programs in this transition phase from Committed Goers to Sent, as members actually hit the field.

Committed Goers are those that have been assessed by your church and the sending agency and are cleared to be sent overseas.

Here are some questions to ask as you develop programs in this transition phase from Global Christians to US Senders or Potential Goers.

Global Christians understand that they have to orient their life around God’s mission of bringing the Gospel to those who have not heard it.

These are three questions we need to answer when helping church members move from being new to missions to globally aware.

The goal of a sending pipeline is to mobilize church members towards the missions vision and strategy that you have set before them.

While it can be said there are no perfect Sending Churches, we do see some common practices of healthy Sending Churches.

Strategy brings guidance to our church's culture and narrows its focus towards sending people and resources to make real field impact.