At Upstream, we believe it is important for every member of the church to understand that they are sent as a Christ follower. Some of these “sent ones” will be called to move towards cross-cultural missions. Neither of these happens by accident. It takes an intentional sending church to produce sent ones and missionaries.  A sending pipeline is a tool that can improve the church’s intentionality toward this endeavor. In this important resource, you will learn how to develop and implement a sending pipeline that will increase the capacity and health of your church’s sending.

My dad was in the water filtration business as I grew up. He would regularly take me on installations of these systems. The first thing we did before we began the job was to look at the existing pipeline in the house and map it out. We needed to figure out where the water was coming in and where it was going. In order for the water filtration system to do its best work it had to be installed right after the water main and before the pipelines branched out to any faucets.

At some houses, after installing the primary water filtration unit, we would add a special water filtration system right before the kitchen sink that created great tasting drinking water. It was a little more expensive so we had to install it where it would get utilized correctly.

Now, imagine if we didn’t install that water filtration system before the water got to the shower or to the washing machine. The water filtration system wouldn’t be doing the job for the whole house. Or, imagine if we installed the special drinking water filtration system to a pipe that only led to the shower. That’d be an unnecessary use of resources! Or even worse, what if we didn’t re-attach the pipes to the house after adding in the water filtration system? All that clean water would go right down the drain. 

The Church’s “Pipelines”

Churches have utilized the analogy of a pipeline to align all programs, ministries, and processes towards the goal of making disciples of their members. When churches find themselves with a complex system of programs that do not align towards the disciple-making vision of the church, this tool has been utilized to bring that alignment. In developing a disciple-making pipeline the church:

1. Defines the vision and values of what a disciple of Christ looks like

2. Aligns every program, ministry, and process to proactively develop those values in its members

Developing and defining this disciple-making vision for your church and putting it into a disciple-making pipeline is a valuable exercise for any church. It then sets up the foundation for developing a sending pipeline that is complementary to the disciple-making pipeline. It utilizes what exists, rather creating an entirely new pipeline.

When my dad and I installed these water filtration systems, we didn’t rip out the entire pipeline system out of the house. We utilized the majority of the existing pipes. Along that existing pipeline, the water filtration system removed the unwanted elements from the water and added the right minerals to the water to have the desired outcome.

With a clear disciple-making pipeline, a leadership team can create that complementary sending pipeline that infuses sentness and a global vision into the already existing disciple-making pipeline. While you might add a new “pipe,” “faucet” or “filtration system” to the disciple-making pipeline, the goal is not to start brand new, but work with the existing disciple-making pipeline.

In this resource we are going to:

1. Start with developing or identifying your existing disciple-making pipeline in your church

2. Help you develop a sending pipeline that infuses global missions vision along the way and creates new programs, ministries, or processes only where necessary

Let’s begin with the church disciple-making pipeline.

Church Disciple-Making Pipeline

While your church may or may not have a disciple-making pipeline written down, it is likely that you can identify aspects of discipleship that your church wants to see in its members and the programs, ministries, and processes that work towards creating that disciple. A pipeline includes two primary elements:

1. Defining stages of disciple that we want to see in our people (another word for “stages” could be marks, levels, or categories)

2. Identifying the ministries, programs, or processes that will get them to the next step

The first step is identifying some stages of a disciple that you hope to see. Here are some examples: 

1. Lost

2. Believer

3. Maturing 

4. Missional

5. Multiplier 

6. Sent Out

This is just one example of the stages of a discipleship pipeline. For your church you would want to create stages that make sense to you. 

The second part of creating a discipleship pipeline is to identify what programs, ministries, or processes move people from one stage to the next. These are the “pipes” that connect one mark of discipleship to the other. Here’s an example of what might be on some of these pipes.

Take a moment to identify your church’s disciple-making pipeline. Download the “Worksheet for Building Your Church's Sending Pipeline” resource on the Upstream website. Take a moment to fill out page 1. On the worksheet you will:

1. Identify some of the values of a disciple in your church

2. List out the primary ministries in your church

3. Identify the stages of discipleship that would identify where a member of your church is at in that process by filling in the dotted-line boxes

4. Fill in the ministries where they best fit on the pipeline in the gray boxes along the pipe

Don’t worry about this being perfect. Do an initial brainstorm. Consider bringing this concept to other church leaders in the future to more clearly identify your church’s disciple-making pipeline.

Discipleship Value: Sentness

As you look back on the values of a disciple, we would like for you to consider a value that isn’t always included in the values of a disciple. John 20:21 says, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” At Upstream we believe that God is a sending God who sent his Son into the world to save sinners like you and me. Not only did he save us, but he “sent” us on mission to our neighborhood, our spheres of influence, and the nations.

You’ve probably been to a church that has a sign posted near the exit that says, “You are now entering the mission field.” They may say at the benediction of the service, “You are sent.” These churches understand that God, as a sending God, sent his Son to the world to save us and send every believer to be on mission for Him. This “sentness,” we believe, is an important value of a disciple. We would encourage you, before we move on to the sending pipeline, to think about how the discipleship value of “sentness” could be infused into the discipleship pipeline of your church. It will provide an important foundation for the raising up and sending of cross-cultural missionaries.

Church Sending Pipeline

As we mentioned before, the purpose of putting together a disciple-making pipeline is not to tear down the programs, ministries, and processes that already exists for making disciples in the church. Rather, it’s to make sure each of them truly align with that purpose and move people from one stage of a disciple to the next.

The sending pipeline upholds that same value. When creating a sending pipeline, you want to utilize the existing discipleship pipeline of your church and compliment it rather than reinstalling a brand new a new pipeline. Here’s why:

1. Great programs, ministries, and processes already exist in your church. There is no need to install new pipes or reinvent the wheel.

2. With a little work, alongside leaders of those ministries you can infuse the value of “sentness” and global missions vision and training in those existing programs, ministries, and processes of the church. 

3. Eventually you will need to create a pipe or two specifically for global missions training. But this is at the end of the pipeline after members have gone through all the primary pipes that the church uses to develop a disciple.

If you uphold and value the existing discipleship pipeline of your church you will: 

1. Value what already exists in the church and help the missionaries love the church

2. Be more efficient by utilizing the existing “pipes”

3. Utilize all the passions and giftings of those leaders, in plurality, to disciple and train future cross-cultural missionaries

You may be an awesome missions leader, but you are not omni-competent. God wants to use other leaders in your church to mobilize to bring extra bandwidth and their own unique abilities to mobilization.

Here is an example graphic of a discipleship pipeline and a complementary sending pipeline:

The light gray boxes above the pipes are copied from the sample church disciple-making pipeline. The bottom line in darker gray represents some examples of programs, ministries, or processes that would complement the disciple-making pipeline by infusing sentness into the life of every member.

Let’s go through each pipe. In each of the following sections we will:

1. Bring a reminder of the common programs, ministries, and processes that are in this “pipe” in the discipleship pipeline

2. Define this section of the pipe and what is trying to be accomplished by the sending pipeline in the life of a member of your church

3. Give some questions for application for each of the pipes to help you begin building your sending pipeline in your church

Pull up the “Worksheet for Building Your Church’s Sending Pipeline” again. As you work through the following sections, write your answers to the questions posed on the appropriate section of the worksheet.

Pipe 1: New to Missions to Globally Aware

The programs, ministries, and processes found typically in a discipleship pipeline for taking people from “Lost” to “New Believer” are: 

1. Sunday morning worship

2. Mid-week large-group gatherings

3. Outreach events the church would put on

For this pipe in the sending pipeline we are looking to utilize the same programs, ministries, and processes to take people from “New to Missions” to “Globally Aware.” We want to help members go from little to know knowledge about sentness and global missions to a beginner's grasp and interest. As we will in each pipe, we are looking to infuse the vision of “sentness” and a vision for global missions vision into the existing programs, ministries, and processes of the disciple-making pipeline. 

Rather than giving concrete ideas for what to do for each pipe, we want you to ponder some questions regarding what will work in your church. Begin by asking these questions and taking inventory on the worksheet of what exists already in your context in response to these questions:

• What are people seeing on your website and in the church entrance?

• What are people hearing from the stage?

• How are you creating awareness among your leadership?

Then for each of these questions, write an “aspirational” idea on the worksheet for how you’d like to see “sentness” and global missions vision infused in this pipe.  

Pipe 2: Globally Aware to Sent One 

The programs, ministries, and processes typically found in a discipleship pipeline for taking people from “New Believer” to “Maturing” are: 

1. Equipping Classes

2. Small Groups

3. Service opportunities

For the sending pipeline we are looking to utilize the same programs, ministries, and processes to take members from “Globally Aware” to a “Sent One.” As mentioned before, we believe at Upstream that it’s important for “sentness” to be a discipleship value that is instilled in the lives of every believer. In this pipe we are looking to help our members go from generally aware about their sentness to becoming “Sent Ones.” What we mean by this are believers that understand that God has saved them for a purpose and has sent them out for that purpose. 

Begin by asking these questions and taking inventory on the worksheet of what exists already in your church context in response to these questions:

• What are some easy on-ramps for people to learn about missions in a classroom setting?

• How can our members be updated on our missionaries’ activity and pray for those things?

• How can members directly experience global missions work in our local community or abroad?

Then for each of these questions, write an “aspirational” idea on the worksheet for how you’d like to see “sentness” and global missions vision infused in this pipe.  

Pipe 3: Sent One to Global Christian | Missionary Candidate

The programs, ministries, and processes typically found in a discipleship pipeline for taking people from “Maturing” to “Leader” are: 

1. Leading in a small group

2. Leading in an age-group ministry

3. Leadership development classes

While a “Sent One” will understand that God has sent them to their neighborhood and the names, a “Global Christian” has taking it from understanding to action. They are living out the life of a cross-cultural missionary in their community. They may do this by reaching out to migrants, refugees, or international students; by going on short-term trips regularly; or serving on a board of a non-profit that is actively mobilizing resources to reach the nation. Even though this person might not have moved to another country, for all intents and purposes they have aligned their lives around global missions. This is an awesome landing place in the sending pipeline for church members, even if they never move full-time overseas. Whatever metrics you are utilizing as a missions leader to count your “success,” a member becoming a Global Christian in their passport country should be one of those metrics.

For some, at this point they will set their trajectory towards moving to another country and become a “Missionary Candidate.” These members will begin the process of assessment and deciding what type of pathway they would like to utilize to go overseas. There is not a one-size-fits-all pathway for missionaries. God uses unique giftings and circumstances to bring the gospel to the nations. Examples of pathways to missions are, but are not limited to:

1. Full-time vocational missionary

2. Teacher

3. Marketplace worker

4. Student

5. Retiree

6. Remote work

7. Sports

8. Business creation

Begin developing this pipe by asking these questions and taking inventory on the worksheet of what exists already in your context in response to these questions:

• What opportunities do you provide for further learning in missions?

• In what ways can members of your church continue to make disciples of all nations in an ongoing way in your community?

• How are you observing and identifying potential missionaries as they make disciples of all nations in your community? 

Then for each of these questions, write an “aspirational” idea for how you’d like to see “sentness” and global missions vision infused in this pipe.  

Pipe 4: Missionary Candidate to Committed Missionary

The programs, ministries, and processes typically found in a discipleship pipeline for taking people from “Leader” to “Multiplier” are

1. Lead leaders

2. Theological classes

3. Leadership training

In this pipe of the sending pipeline we are looking to move “Missionary Candidates” to “Committed Missionaries.” In this pipe we are walking through all of the pieces of assessment to affirm the calling of a Missionary Candidate and place them on a trajectory towards launching to their ministry location. This would include any church assessments, experiences, developmental pieces, and applications with a missions organization that they might utilize.

Up until now we have encouraged you to stay as in line with your church discipleship pipeline as possible. At this point in the process the sending pipeline starts to have more of its own identity. Still try to keep missionary candidates vitally involved in the discipleship pipeline as much as possible, but some programs, ministries, or processes might need to be developed specifically for the assessment of these missionary candidates. Begin by asking these questions and taking inventory on the worksheet of what exists already in your context:

• How will you help them work through and affirm their calling?

• What are the assessment pieces or exercises that you will have them work through? 

• How will you begin creating and working through their personal development plan?

Then for each of these questions, write an aspirational idea for how you’d like to see global missions vision infused in this part of the pipeline.

Pipe 5: Committed Missionary to Field Missionary

The programs, ministries, and processes typically found in a discipleship pipeline for taking people from “Multiplier” to “Sent Out” are

1. Personal Development Plan

2. Church Internship

3. Third Party Trainings

“Committed Missionaries,” should have a personal development plan created based on their assessments. As the committed missionary moves towards launch, the church should continue to work with them on how they are being developed in their health and readiness for cross-cultural missions. 

It is important to give careful thought to what you will be asking missionaries to do in this especially busy season. We have observed churches and missions organizations putting undue burden on missionaries if they have not gotten on the same page regarding expectations for the missionary during this pipe.

Personal finances can be especially tricky in this pipe. What often slows down the fundraising process for Committed Missionaries is having to continue to work at their current job. What a Committed Missionary needs in order to do fundraising well is free time to connect with potential donors. However, it is difficult to free up their time when they need the money from their job to sustain their lives. I have often observed the fundraising process taking an unnecessary amount of time during this pipe and keeps Committed Missionaries stuck in this cycle.

One way the church can help during this season is to work with the missions organization to provide a financial and employment infrastructure for the missionary. This allows them to lower or discontinue their hours at their current employment and frees up time for fundraising and personal development. One of the ways we’ve seen this work includes:

1. Having the missionary go through the necessary steps to open a fundraising account with the missions organization as soon as possible

2. Empowering the missionary to raise enough one-time funds to cover a season of six months of salary and benefits

3. Providing from the church a one-time gift to help them get started

The missionary is then freed up to continue the remainder of their fundraising and to work on their personal development plan without having to be concerned about finances. There are alternative financial models for this, but this is one trustworthy example of how the church can help in this season. 

For this pipe, begin by asking these questions and taking inventory on the worksheet of what exists already in your context in response to these questions:

• How will you mentor and coach them through their Personal Development Plan?

• How will you shepherd them during their fundraising season?

• Could you help provide for their financial needs to help them through the fundraising and final development stages?

Then for each of these questions write an aspirational idea for how you’d like to see global missions vision infused in this part of the pipeline.

The Pipeline is an Incomplete Analogy for Sending

It is important to note before we close out this resource that what we have highlighted in the sending pipeline is an incomplete view of the sending process as a whole. Sending is not only about the pre-field pipeline, it is also about how the church cares for the missionaries on the field and when they return. While it would go beyond the scope of this resource to dive fully into those aspects of sending, the tendency to reduce sending to pre-field compels us to mention them now. On our website you can find a wealth of resources on care and re-entry of missionaries.

As you put new energy into your sending pipeline, make sure that you are putting thought and structure to care for your missionaries on the field and after they come off the field.

Raise Them Up and Send Them Out

The majority of a church’s efforts should be placed on helping the everyday member of the church become a disciple of Christ who understands their sentness. But in order to see missionaries raised up that are ready to go to the areas of low access to the gospel, churches with a sending vision and pipeline are greatly needed. 

I know of a collegiate church planting network with a vision statement that goes like this: “Raise Them Up; Send Them Out.” How could you orient the vision of your church to see this happen for an increasing number of your members? Consider how the development and implementation of a sending pipeline the raises up healthy missionaries and sends them out could help bring the light of Christ to the darkest places of the world.

Next Steps

The journey toward sending well happens one step at a time. Here are two ways you can continue moving upstream:

1. Download or print the “Worksheet for Building Your Church's Sending Pipeline” to begin crafting your own Sending Pipeline.

2. Watch Upstream’s “Developing a Sending Pipeline” training. 

3. Buy a copy of “Pipeline: Engaging the Church in Missionary Mobilization” by David Wilson for more ideas on how to develop a sending pipeline.