A Church-Centric Approach to Sending
Around the world, churches are rediscovering their role in God’s global mission—not just as supporters, but as senders. At Upstream, we exist to walk alongside these kinds of churches, empowering them to send and send well.
We believe that every church can become a sending church. But sending well takes more than passion—it requires intentionality, sacrifice, strong partnerships, and deep, lasting relationships rooted in trust.
We're a sending agency for churches ready to play a meaningful role in sending, ongoing care, and field engagement.
Our model is built on interdependent sending—the conviction that the local church and the sending agency must work hand in hand for healthier sending and stronger field engagement. That’s why we don’t just offer services; we offer ourselves—to churches, missionaries, and field leaders alike.
Our staff brings together over 100 years of combined missions leadership—as former missionaries, agency leaders, missiologists, and missions pastors. That depth of experience shapes everything we do. And it allows us to walk with churches not just as consultants, but as co-laborers and friends.
Why Upstream Sending?
Because mission shouldn’t be outsourced—it should be owned.
Because the people God is calling to the nations are already in your church.
Because sending is too important to do alone when it can better be done together.
We help churches like yours send their members to live, serve, and plant the gospel in communities around the world. But we don’t just help with logistics. We build a network of meaningful, enduring relationships around each missionary and church.
At the core of our work is a network model built on trust:
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The Sending Network: A growing community of like-minded churches and church leaders sharing best practices, collaborating in mission, and walking in deep relationship together.
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The Field Network: A global fellowship of trusted leaders and teams ready to receive and shepherd new missionaries and engage in healthy mission practice.
Together, these networks form a powerful web of care and collaboration—so no church sends alone, and no missionary serves in isolation.
What We're After
We’re not building an organization. We’re building a culture.
A culture where churches don’t outsource sending. Where missionaries stay meaningfully connected to their home churches. Where teams overseas are supported, known, and growing. Where global church leaders are invested in and invest in others. Where gospel renewal fuels the work and the worker.
We’re not just sending people to the nations. We’re building a global family—connected by vision, aligned around theology and missiology, and knit together by real relationship so that whose who’ve never heard the gospel can know and worship Jesus.