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...
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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!
Christian Townson
- Jan 9
- 4 min
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...
Greg Mathias
- Jan 1
- 5 min
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...
Matthew Bennett
- Apr 24, 2023
- 4 min
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...
Larry McCrary
- Feb 2, 2023
- 3 min
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
- Jan 23, 2023
- 5 min
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...
Ellen Livingood
- Jan 19, 2023
- 6 min
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...
Ryan Martin
- Jan 12, 2023
- 6 min
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
Mike Easton
- Jan 9, 2023
- 3 min
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 2, 2023
- 3 min
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...
Larry McCrary
- Oct 25, 2021
- 7 min
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...
Josh Navey
- Oct 21, 2021
- 6 min
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...
Larry McCrary
- Oct 18, 2021
- 3 min
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.
Mike Easton
- Oct 7, 2021
- 5 min
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
- Sep 23, 2021
- 4 min
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 20, 2021
- 4 min
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.
The Upstream Collective
- Aug 6, 2021
- 1 min
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.
Lezlie Ellis
- Mar 16, 2020
- 4 min
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.
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