Frequently Asked Questions
Can any church send through Upstream?
No—churches must be part of the Sending Network in order to send missionaries through Upstream. The Sending Network is a community of churches and leaders united by a shared theology, missiology, meaningful relationships, and a commitment to healthy, church-centered sending.
Joining the Sending Network involves a clear and intentional process: submitting an application, participating in an assessment, working through a growth plan, making a financial commitment, and—most importantly—expressing a genuine desire to be part of a like-minded community passionate about sharing the gospel, making disciples, and planting churches across cultures.
If you’re interested, please reach out to us at contact@upstreamsending.com. We’d love to connect.
How does Upstream Sending differ from other sending organizations?
In the current world of missions sending, there are typically two types of sending organizations: ones that provide full-service, taking the lead in the sending process, and organizations that only provide back-end services (donor processing, payroll, etc). Upstream Sending is a paradigm-shifting agency that sits in the middle of these two models. Upstream does provide back-end services, and we are full-service, but only in an interdependent relationship with the sending church.
Does Upstream Sending have the experience needed to help churches send?
Yes. Though our full-time staff is intentionally small to keep overhead low, our staff team has over 100 years of experience in global missions. Our leaders have served as missionaries, agency leaders, mission pastors, and expat workers in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe.
Although we have the experience and education to help churches and missionaries, we also know our limitations. If our organization isn’t a good fit for you, or we don’t have the experience needed to help, we’re happy to point you to an organization that does.
What is Upstream Sending’s main focus? Unreached? Church planting? Theological training?
Our focus is on empowering the local churches to send well and engage faithfully in the Great Commission globally. This means we don’t have a one-size-fits-all field strategy. Instead, we adapt our strategy to the visions of the sending churches we partner with.
In addition, we have established missiological values and field team practices that provide direction toward healthy missions practice without dictating the strategy our cross-cultural missionaries and sending churches should be engaged in. We are also committed to teaching healthy missiology and practice in our sending church coaching, our pre-field training , and our on-field strategy coaching.
Where is Upstream currently working overseas?
We have nine Field Network locations with vetted team leaders and established mission teams or local churches. We invested deeply in these leader’s holistic healthy and ministry strategy. We send missionaries to these teams and churches.
Alongside our Field Network, we also help our member churches send missionaries to their church partners in what we call church-specific sending.
We also offer a Marketplace pathway for people taking a job overseas, starting a business, studying abroad, or retiring internationally. We help marketplace Christians through assessment, development, ministry partnership, and ongoing coaching. These marketplace sending opportunities can happen almost anywhere.
Is Upstream Sending a denominational agency? Who can partner with Upstream in sending?
Upstream is committed to being a gospel-centered, theologically-rich, and grace-driven organization, but we aren’t connected to any one denomination. Instead, we seek to serve local churches from a variety of backgrounds and denominations that have alignment with Upstream’s theology, missiology, and values.
At the church level we partner with gospel-centered, evangelical churches who align around our theological statement, the Nicene Creed, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, and the Lausanne Covenant. Our partner churches also need to agree with our missiological values. On the field level, we ask mission teams to be more specific in their theological and missiological alignment. We ask every field team to have a team covenant that includes a theological statement, missiological values, and team practices. We spell this out more fully in our ministry alignment framework.
I want to go to the field, but my church isn’t on board. Will Upstream Sending still send me?
The short answer is no, but we may still be able to help. Our sending process starts and ends with the local church. We partner first with sending churches and then with the missionaries from those churches.
That being said, we’re more than happy to talk with your church and see if we could help them in global missions. We love helping local churches develop systems and structures for sending well. Our Equipping team has resources and coaching to help churches of all sizes and levels of missions engagement.
Why does Upstream Sending have a church membership cost?
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Your membership through the Sending Network helps us invest in more than just sending missionaries—it helps us invest in your church. Through the Sending Network, we provide assessments, growth plans, leadership coaching, a yearly gathering, and connection with other like-minded churches. This support equips your church to send well.
Additionally, sending missionaries and sustaining healthy ministry overseas requires significant resources. Membership fee in the Sending Network help offset those costs, reducing the financial burden on the missionaries themselves. Your investment makes effective, long-term sending possible.
What is our church’s next step toward partnership with Upstream Sending?
We believe that relationship always precedes partnership. So, whether you and your church are sold on Upstream Sending or still have a thousand questions, your first step is to have a conversation with one of our leaders. Jump to our contact form, fill it out, and we’ll get back to you soon. We look forward to connecting!