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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!
Where to Now? Helping Short-Term Teams Return Well
Getting excited about sending out short-term teams is easy. A short-term mission experience is, perhaps, one of the most effective ways...
Bruce Mewbourne
Jan 15, 20244 min read
Developing Leaders and Missionaries through Short-Term Trips
Most churches channel their efforts into cross-cultural missions through short-term trips, enabling church members to experience the...
Christian Townson
Jan 9, 20244 min read
Debriefing Short-Term Trips
Spending nine weeks in the Middle East during the summer of 1994 challenged my worldview, shaped my identity, and redirected my life’s...
Greg Mathias
Jan 1, 20245 min read
How the Sent Send the Senders: Three Ways Missionaries Can Catalyze Mission at Home
As the term is commonly used, missionaries are those who are sent to make disciples in places that are usually geographically and...
Matthew Bennett
Apr 24, 20234 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.
Larry McCrary
Feb 2, 20233 min read
The Benefits of Going to the Same Place Year after Year
We have been involved in global missions for over twenty-two years now. For most of those years, we have served in Europe, though the...
Larry McCrary
Jan 23, 20235 min read
Expect the Unexpected
Are you prepared for a crisis? As our world becomes more dangerous, what is the riskiest thing your church’s mission leaders can do? The...
Ellen Livingood
Jan 19, 20236 min read
Short-Term Fueling Long-Term Missions
Short-term missions provides the context through which the church can prepare and propel future missionaries for a lifetime of service
Ryan Martin
Jan 12, 20236 min read
Evaluating Hosts of Short-Term Trips
As you finish up your short-term trips, a valuable step to take can be to evaluate the trip hosts. It’s likely that those to whom you are...
Mike Easton
Jan 9, 20233 min read
Entry Level Short-Term Trip Opportunities & Resources
In our article series “Redeeming Short-Term Trips,” we lay out some principles for doing short-term trips with intelligence and...
Mike Easton
Jan 2, 20233 min read
Building Family Missions Trips: from the Field Side
As a church planter in the States during the 90s, and globally since 2001, we have used short-term teams as an important part of our...
Larry McCrary
Oct 25, 20217 min read
Building Family Short-Term Trips from the Church's Viewpoint
If your church takes family ministry seriously (and I’m sure you do if you’re reading this article!), then you’ve likely had...
Josh Navey
Oct 21, 20216 min read
New Book From Upstream: Listen
Check out the new book from Upstream entitled, "Listen: How to Make the Most of Your Short-term Mission Trip" by the Upstream Collective.
Larry McCrary
Oct 18, 20213 min read
Redeeming Short-Term Trips (Part 1)
Short-term trips have gotten a bit of a bad rap in recent years. Can we redeem a method of ministry to make it do more good than harm?
Mike Easton
Oct 7, 20215 min read
The Sending Pipeline Part 4: From Global Christians to Potential Goers
Here are some questions to ask as you develop programs in this transition phase from Global Christians to US Senders or Potential Goers.
Mike Easton
Sep 23, 20214 min read
The Sending Pipeline Part 3: From Globally Aware to Global Christians
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.
Mike Easton
Sep 20, 20214 min read
Resource of the Week: Security Tips for Your Short-Term Teams
While it's never fun to consider how to respond to crises, it's important to learn how to equip your short-term teams for such occasions.
The Upstream Collective
Aug 6, 20211 min read
Jet Set Trips: A First-Person Perspective
What God impressed upon me the most on the Jet Set trip was how we are to love and care for our sent ones.
Lezlie Ellis
Mar 16, 20204 min read
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