This resource introduces the Sending Church Elements—seventeen essential components organized into four phases that form a framework for helping churches send well. It offers clear definitions, reflection prompts, and guidance to help missions leaders assess where their church is and identify areas for growth. For a deeper exploration of each element, readers are encouraged to read The Sending Church Applied, which unpacks the framework one chapter at a time with biblical depth and practical insight.

One of the most unforgettable moments in science class is being introduced to the periodic table. It’s a chart full of mysterious letters and numbers that somehow explain everything from water to galaxies. Whether it thrilled or confused you, it served a powerful purpose—it made something vast feel accessible. The smallest pieces revealed the biggest realities.

That same idea inspired the Sending Church Elements.

At the Upstream Collective, we’ve always believed that churches—not just missions organizations or missionaries—have a central role in God’s global mission. But when we began helping churches engage that role, we discovered many missions leaders felt uncertain about the best path forward. They believed in the Great Commission through the local church, but they often didn’t know how it all fit together. They had plenty of passion—plus the pressure to produce results—but needed help with the bigger picture.

So we began by defining what a sending church actually is. That process became The Sending Church Defined, our foundational book built around a shared conviction: sending well means more than writing checks or offering prayers. It means developing and sending your own people to cross cultures with the gospel—sending and never letting go.

But even with a strong definition about the principles of a sending, churches still needed to know how to apply those principles in their unique contexts. That’s why we developed the Sending Church Elements.

Born out of road trips, whiteboard sessions, and years of listening to local churches, these seventeen elements are the essential building blocks of sending well. They emerged as consistent patterns from churches who were putting the sending church definition into practice. And as we grouped them by theme, they naturally organized into four key phases:

• Establishing: Laying a biblical foundation for sending

• Developing: Preparing members to be sent

• Engaging: Sending and sustaining missionaries

• Multiplying: Maturing in sending ability and influence

We soon realized we had something like a “periodic table” of global missions for the local church. But instead of atoms, it maps out the core convictions and actions of sending well.

This framework has become the foundation for how we organize our resources and our approach to equipping. It offers guidance for leaders who feel lost in the complexities of missions. It provides language, categories, and next steps. Whether your church is just getting started or seeking to grow in sending maturity, these elements will help you identify where you are—and where you’re headed.

The next pages contain the Sending Church Elements table, followed by brief definitions of each phase and element. 

Let the journey begin!

The Sending Church Elements Definitions

Phase 1: Establishing 

The church lays a biblical foundation for sending

Sending Church Element #1: Cultivating Missions Awareness

A sending church cultivates missions awareness by instilling a holistic culture of God’s mission rather than simply a missions ministry. Instead of beginning with activity, the church fosters a sent identity, a missional lens through which to see all of life. Church leaders first give attention to growth in their own missiology, then help their fellow leaders and members to know the local and global calling that flows from God’s heart.

Sending Church Element #2: Establishing Missions Convictions

A sending church establishes missions convictions when it moves from general knowledge of God’s mission to ownership of its own missional role. This depends primarily on the use of Scripture and prayer, so that the result is Spirit-filled rather than man-made. This also includes defining the church’s particular missions convictions, which are a combination of the church’s biblical convictions and its unique identity. These convictions then serve as a guide and filter for all of the church’s missions activity. 

Sending Church Element #3: Developing a Vision

A sending church develops a vision when, building from its missions convictions, it develops a short and clear vision statement. This vision statement guides the church as it ultimately considers specific people, places, and/or projects in local and global missions. Although the vision is God-sized, the church encapsulates it in a simple and compelling statement that can be embraced by all of its leaders and members.

Sending Church Element #4: Building a Strategy

A sending church builds a strategy by creating a clear sending process for the church to ultimately fulfill its vision. The sending process creates a mobilization strategy for short-, mid-, and long-term missionaries. This strategy then gives direction to the impact missionaries are expected to have, including a budget that reflects sacrificial giving and intentional planning.

Sending Church Element #5: Involving the Entire Church

A sending church involves the entire church by clearly and consistently teaching its missions convictions, vision, and strategy. This is done in such a way that every member understands their roles and opportunities to participate in God’s mission through the church. This also includes developing an infrastructure of missions leaders who help execute the sending process.

Phase 2: Developing

The church prepares its own members to be sent

Sending Church Element #6: Evaluating Sending Pathways and Partners

A sending church proactively evaluates sending pathways and partners that align with its convictions, vision, and strategy for the purpose of finding the most fitting global partners and missions organizations. These entities not only help facilitate sending, but also align theologically, remain relationally accessible, and uphold the centrality of the local church.

Sending Church Element #7: Identifying Missionaries

A sending church identifies missionaries by deliberately calling members to take the next step of obedience in God’s mission. Instead of waiting for volunteers, church leaders mobilize the congregation by affirming and challenging those with the potential to be sent cross-culturally. Candidates are thus called to intentionally enter the next phase of the sending pipeline.

Sending Church Element #8: Assessing Missionaries

A sending church assesses potential missionaries by taking the lead (often with the assistance of a missions organization) to evaluate candidates’ strengths and weaknesses and to chart a path forward toward growth. In the security of covenant membership and authentic relationship, the church partners with candidates to holistically assess their knowledge, character, and skills. Candidates are then called to intentionally enter the next phase of the sending pipeline.

Sending Church Element #9: Developing Missionaries

A sending church develops missionaries when it uses the results of the assessment to help candidates grow in their readiness to be sent cross-culturally as effective disciple-makers and multipliers of the church’s vision. This process includes producing a customized development plan for each candidate in the categories of knowledge, character, and skills. It also involves ongoing coaching and evaluation as missionaries move toward the field.

Phase 3: Engaging

The church sends and sustains its own members

Sending Church Element #10: Commissioning Missionaries

A sending church commissions missionaries by publicly setting them apart for the work to which God has called them. This communal recognition in obedience to the Holy Spirit involves worship, prayer, and the laying on of hands. It also clarifies the church’s sending responsibilities and reminds the entire church of its sent identity.

Sending Church Element #11: Getting Missionaries Established

A sending church gets missionaries established in partnership with their missions organization by staying in close communication during the first term. Aware of the possibility of attrition, the church encourages them to remain faithful through the rigors of language and culture acquisition rather than returning home prematurely.

Sending Church Element #12: Providing Ongoing Care

A sending church provides ongoing care in partnership with a missions organization by building a relational structure that nurtures the health of missionaries for as long as they are sent out. This involves both church leaders and members in advocating holistically for missionaries through prayer, communication, accountability, logistics, visits, and crises.

Sending Church Element #13: Maintaining Strategic Focus

A sending church maintains strategic focus by regularly reevaluating the effectiveness of its strategy and ensuring that its responsibilities are not relegated to missions organizations. Missionaries are kept accountable to the church’s strategic focus, and partnerships are evaluated for their effectiveness in supporting that focus.

Phase 4: Multiplying

The church matures in its sending ability and influence

Sending Church Element #14: Inviting Missionaries’ Influence

A sending church invites missionaries’ influence when it eagerly desires the unique encouragement that comes from missionaries, as modeled in the New Testament. Whether the missionaries are on the field or on furlough, the church initiates opportunities for them to influence through presence, reporting, and exhortation.

Sending Church Element #15: Receiving Missionaries During Reentry

A sending church receives missionaries during reentry by planning to meet their missionaries’ needs (including those of their children) when they return on furlough, transition indefinitely, or retire. Aware of the unique challenges of reentry, church leaders and members give special attention to debriefing and ongoing care. They also seek to help missionaries assimilate back into the culture and reintegrate into the church’s local mission.

Sending Church Element #16: Innovating as Sending Churches

A sending church innovates by honestly reevaluating itself according to the Sending Church Elements, while also researching new missions trends and practices. This practice provides the opportunity to assess its entire approach. Based on this assessment, church leaders then make necessary changes and communicate those changes to church members and missionaries.

Sending Church Element #17: Influencing Other Churches

A sending church influences other churches when it pursues relationships with like-minded and/or neighboring churches who haven’t matured as far in sending. The church thus multiplies its sending capacity by sharing experiences and resources with other churches, possibly even leading to strategic partnerships.

Making Sense of the Elements

At first glance, the Sending Church Elements might feel like a lot. Seventeen different categories? Four distinct phases? Where are we even supposed to start?

Take a deep breath—this framework isn’t meant to burden you. It’s meant to guide you.

Here are a few key things to keep in mind as you engage with the elements:

You don’t have to “do it all” at once. These elements are a reflection of a church maturing over time, not a checklist to complete tomorrow. Every church is somewhere on the journey.

The elements are interconnected. While they are grouped by phase, the elements don’t always function in a strict order. Some churches might be sending missionaries (Engaging Phase) before they’ve developed strong pathways (Developing Phase). That’s normal—and often points to areas for strengthening.

Every church has strengths and gaps. Some elements may already be a natural part of your church’s culture. Others might be new or unfamiliar. That’s not failure—it’s insight. Knowing where you are helps you take wise next steps.

The elements offer shared language. One of the most helpful parts of this framework is how it gives missions leaders, pastors, and teams a common vocabulary. It brings clarity to conversations that often feel vague or scattered.

This is a tool for your context. Churches of different sizes, backgrounds, and structures will apply these elements in different ways. That’s not a flaw—it’s by design. These elements are meant to be adapted, not imposed.

This is a living framework, not a finished product. These elements reflect years of collaboration with real churches—but they’re not the end of the story. As you walk this path, you may recognize ways to improve it, maybe even a whole new element. That’s the beauty of relationships. As we learn together, the framework continues to grow and mature too.

Where Is Your Church Now?

Now that you’ve seen the Sending Church Elements and considered how they work together, it’s time to reflect on your own church’s journey. This isn’t about grading yourself or comparing to others—it’s about gaining awareness. Knowing where you are today helps you discern where to grow tomorrow.

Here are some reflection questions to consider:

• Which phase best describes where our church is right now: Establishing, Developing, Engaging, or Multiplying?

• Which elements feel strong or already embedded in our church’s culture?

• Which elements are unfamiliar, missing, or underdeveloped?

• What stories or examples come to mind that reflect where we’ve seen growth—or tension—in these areas?

You might consider gathering a few key leaders or missions team members to walk through this reflection together. Use the Sending Church Elements as a guide for honest dialogue, celebrating what God has done and naming what might need attention.

Want to Go Deeper?

If this framework has helped bring clarity to your church’s role in global missions, and you're ready to explore each of the Sending Church Elements in more depth, we wrote a book just for that: The Sending Church Applied.

Written by Upstream leaders Larry McCrary, Nathan Sloan, Mike Easton, and Bradley Bell, the book takes you beyond definitions. It devotes a full chapter to each of the seventeen elements, unpacking them with biblical foundations, real-world examples, and practical next steps. Think of it as a manual for putting these concepts into practice in your unique church context.

A Framework and a Guide

Every church has a part to play in God’s global mission—and sending well doesn’t happen by accident. It takes vision, intentionality, and a willingness to grow over time.

The Sending Church Elements are here to help. They give missions leaders a framework for clarity, not complexity—a way to understand what sending looks like in real life, and how to move forward with confidence. Whether you’re just beginning or have been sending for years, this tool is designed to meet you exactly where you are.

But a framework alone isn’t enough.

That’s why Upstream exists—not just to create resources, but to walk alongside missions leaders as they put these elements into practice. We’ve learned that transformation doesn’t come from having more information—it comes from having the right guide and a supportive community.

You don’t have to figure it out alone. That’s why we call ourselves a collective. Let’s keep learning together—for the good of the church and the glory of Christ among all nations.

Next Steps

Becoming a sending church doesn’t happen all at once. It starts with clarity, grows through intentionality, and is sustained by community. Here are three practical ways you can continue the journey:

• Share this resource with your missions team, elders, or staff. Walk through the Sending Church Elements and ask: Where are we strong? Where do we need to grow? 

• Read The Sending Church Applied, which unpacks each of the seventeen elements one chapter at a time, helping you move from concept to practice. 

• Become an Upstream member and gain access to our full library of sending church resources—most of which are organized according to the Sending Church Elements (theupstreamcolletive.org/join).