I know what you’re thinking. Upstream started with a focus on mission in Europe. But since our Jet Set trip to Asia last Fall, we’ve started to broaden our horizons and branch out into the rest of the world. We’ve met lots of innovative and committed people working among the peoples of Asia, and we’d like to tell their stories.

So we’re heading to Los Angeles, Tucson, and Phoenix during the first week in September. Our goal is to connect with church leaders and professionals who have an interest in or connection to Asia. We’ll be talking about opportunities to serve in that region, connections to make with the people on the ground there, and our missiological motivation to go. We’d love to help you communicate back with your church the tremendous opportunity for global involvement.

In the Los Angeles area, we’ll have two gatherings: from 10AM-1PM at FBC Anaheim, and from 3pm-6pm at Cedarpoint Church in Simi Valley. We’ll bring along some friends with first-hand experience in the work in Asia, and anyone who’s interested can leave with some connections to workers on the field.

Our goal is to equip you to lead your church to direct involvement in missional engagement of Asian peoples both at home and abroad. Our meetings will be relaxed and informal, and we’ll help you find some accessible “on-ramps” to involvement.

If you live in any of the cities on our itinerary, or if you know someone who does, please contact us at info@theupstreamcollective.org. Anyone is welcome to these gatherings, or we’d love to meet over coffee or a meal to discuss ways for the church to think and act like a missionary.

Please consider promoting these discussions by posting these images on your blog/twitter. We’d like to get the word out before the trip, and you can help make that happen! Thanks!

The Upstream Collective will be participating in the Sent Conference in Houston, TX on April 16 and 17 where we will be conducting a pre-conference lab helping people in the process of reThinking Mission. Topics will include:

• Examining how our cultural climate impacts mission;
• Defining what the mission is;
• Identifying those responsible for the mission; and
• Providing practical handles to move forward.

To participate, register for the Sent Conference and the Friday pre-session reThinking Mission. Additional cost is $10 to cover lunch.

During the conference, the Upstream Collective will be leading a breakouts entitled Church as Missionary and Back to the Future with lessons learned and challenges from church planting in Europe–an advanced post-Christian context.

On March 18, 2010, the Upstream Collective will be doing an about Europe in St. Petersburg, FL. This facilitated conversation will include the post-Christian European worldview, creative engagement strategies, and challenges with engaging the culture. A special emphasis will be placed on work in urban centers in Russia. The event will be at the North East Park Baptist Church from 11:00 to 3:00. To reserve a spot, contact Sam Letson at: sletson3 (at) aol (dot) com. Lunch will be provided.

On February 24, 2010, the Upstream Collective will be in Knoxville, TN to talk about church planting and missions in Europe. Topics will include the post-Christian European worldview, creative engagement strategies, and challenges to direct church involvement. You’ll meet practitioners; missionaries, church planters, and local pastors. You’ll leave with a clear understanding of how God might use your church in Europe, as well as some practical tools for sharing that vision with your church.

We’ll be hosted by FBC Concord, and the event will take place from 10:00AM until 2:00Pm with lunch included.

If you’d like to come, please let us know so that we can plan accordingly.

Also, keep looking as there are other dates and locations planned that will be posted soon and many that are still in the works. We are planning to be in that long, slender state soon….

If you’re of the opinion that there are already enough churches in your area, Developing Churches Network would kindly disagree.

“If every evangelical church in the country were filled to capacity each and every Sunday, it would still only provide enough seats to accommodate a small percentage of the overall population,” says DCN’s Todd McMichen. “We need more churches and different churches- not just more of the same.”

McMichen’s church, The People’s Church, is a member of the network, and serves as a model of church at it’s simplest. Todd is bi-vocational; he heads up McMichen Development Group as a day job. The church meets in a public school on purpose. They’re heavily involved in their community. In fact, Todd recently instructed his church members to stop inviting people to church. “The thing is,” explained one church member, “our message is ‘Come to Jesus,’ not ‘Come to church.’”

DCN invited us to come in an speak about how a church can think and act like a missionary. Birmingham’s Downtown Church hosted us. There were no Lone Rangers here, this is a network of church planters who are committed to getting things done in unity and mutual support. We’re looking forward to being involved as the Developing Churches Network continues to equip, resource, and encourage missional churches.

When we first met Johnny Grimes, we knew he was a like-minded guy. His laid back demeanor and kind disposition made him immediately likable. His willingness to disagree (in love) with friends and partners in a disarming and unifying way endeared him to us. We suspect God used these same attributes to help Johnny to plant Branch Life Church in Birmingham, AL.

Visiting a church like Branch Life is a joy for us-m we don’t have to spend time trying to convince them of the importance of missions or the value of missions involvement to their missional perspective at home. No, Branch Life already understood these things. They have just entered a five-year commitment to direct missional involvement in London. Did we mention that Branch Life is a new church? Sunday was their first commitment to membership service. In other words, rather than waiting until they had a certain number of people or a comfortable amount of money,  Branch Life committed to missions as they were forming their church. Talk about putting mission in the DNA of a community of faith!

Their initial contact trip is in just a few weeks, so we were happy to provide some worldview insight to the church. They’re off to a great start- Branch Life is partnering with another local church, Hunter Street Baptist, who has likewise adopted another borough in London in is a few steps ahead of them in strategy development and on-the-ground ministry. Johnny is building a relationship with national believers and with Crowded House pastor Steve Timmis through their mutual involvement in the Acts 29 Network.

Our favorite part of the time we spent with Branch Life wasn’t our “presentation,” is was hanging out with them afterward. Branch Life members showed an impressive knowledge of scripture. They clearly have a great sense of awareness of the Holy Spirit, their vision as a community of faith, and the complexity of their urban Alabama context. These are the makings of a good missionary. We were encouraged.

Be sure to keep up with Branch Life. If you have any questions about how they’ve managed to keep the mission central to who they are as a church, or if you’re interested in partnering with them and other churches to plant churches in London, please drop Johnny a line. We’re proud of them, and excited to see what God is going to do in and through Branch Life Church as they obediently go where the Lord leads them.

Are you interested in participating in or hosting an About Europe? Please let us know. We’d love to have some face time with other members of the collective and hear about what God is doing to get your church involved in missions at home and in Europe.

If you’re not familiar with About Europe, check out some of the posts in the “About Europe” category to read about the concept and what went on at our various gatherings last year.

Next week, Ed will be visiting Rome and Marseilles in advance of next spring’s trip with Darrin Patrick ( May 22 to June 1, 2009). A couple of posts ago, Ed wrote about the Upstream Collective, and the Jet Set Tour we’re planning together for the Spring. Please follow this site for more information. Remember that plans for a trip to Europe are a little more involved than a weekend conference- if you want to participate, please plan ahead!