Receiving new workers (whether they be short-, mid-, or long-term) on the mission field is one of the responsibilities of the long-term missionary. In this new blog series, Upstream’s Executive Director Larry McCrary, will be expounding on what it would look like for missionaries to receive workers well.
A few months ago, Larry McCrary, the director of Upstream, wrote an article called Slow-brew Missions. We all loved it, and in it he uses a vivid analogy for why it is a better approach to sending to first saturate the minds of every church member with mission identity. In this updated article, Larry explains how thinking holistically and having patience can result in a pervasive rather than limited church involvement.
In this article, Upstream co-founder and director Larry McCrary reflects on some big picture strategies that will be useful in our current day and world, which the sending church in North America will do well to consider. Here are five areas for improvement, which are especially pertinent for our present sending culture.
American culture loves things that are big, flashy, and immediate. This doesn't necessarily change when it comes to missions strategy, but a wise church will aim for a slower-paced strategy for a long-lasting effect. That's what Upstream Director Larry McCrary is describing as slow-brew missions.
The Sending Church Elements are a framework for growing as a sending church. This series describes the importance of Element 01: Cultivating Missions Awareness. In Part Two, Larry McCrary clarifies the biggest challenge for Cultivating Missions Awareness in a local church.
Shouldn't our sent ones be the very best we have to offer? What if there was an incredible asset, a glaring opportunity, that we have largely been ignoring? In light of a changing landscape and globalization, Larry McCrary examines some of the advantages sending through the marketplace can have over more traditional pathways.