The Sending Church Applied

by Bradley Bell, Mike Easton, Larry McCrary

One of the most meaningful experiences of students’ lives is their introduction to the periodic table. The little blocks with numbers and letters revealed a complex world of elements and represented a doorway to the world of chemistry. In a similar way The Sending Church Applied — the followup to Upstream’s foundational book, The Sending Church Defined —is a periodic table of global missions for the local church. It reveals seventeen “elements” that make up what we call a “sending church,” and makes them doable for any church.

The Sending Church Applied moves from the theological foundation of being a sending church to its practical application. After years spent working within and alongside local churches, authors Bradley Bell, Mike Easton, Larry McCrary, and Nathan Sloan have gathered their collective wisdom into a journey through the “Sending Church Elements.” Some of them

Building a Strategy
Developing Missionaries
Providing Ongoing Care
Receiving Missionaries During Reentry

Whether you read through them in a linear fashion or focus only on topics of interest, these seventeen chapters (one for each element) will teach you how to send people on mission with the gospel in ways that will both change your church and the world.

275 pages, Paperback

Published August 30, 2024

Reviews

[Ryan Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Acts 13 gives us the example that local churches should seek to emulate - intentional sending of their members, as missionaries, to the nations, for the glory of God and the advance of the gospel. But how do we do it? The Sending Church Applied lays out the building blocks for developing a DNA of sending within your church. Through the 17 Sending Elements, this book is a biblical and practical guide for how to discover sent ones, develop them, deploy them, and then receive them back from the field. Pastors, mission leaders, and mission committees need to take up this book and apply it … whether you find you need to start at square one, or develop out certain elements, this book will strengthen your sending.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

After The Sending Church Defined helped answer the what and why questions of sending, Upstream produced The Sending Church Applied to help answer the how question. Through 17 "elements" the authors clearly show how every church can proactively send their people in a variety of ways. Filled with practical advice and next steps rooted in sound biblical theology and missiology The Sending Church Applied is a must read, not just for people who love missions, but for any church that wants to take their part in the Great Commission.