About Us
Mission & Values
Bringing Digital Scripture Engagement to unreached language groups — that people of all nations, tribes, and tongues might know the grace of God in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who We Are
Upstream is the vehicle by which a community of technologists, designers, and church planters innovate together.
What We Do
We partner with missional technologists and field teams to meaningfully impact church planting efforts to the unreached.
How We Do It
Through volunteers and intern cohorts, we build apps that distribute digital Scripture, story, and song to unreached language groups.
Our Values
In addition to our mission agency's values, Upstream has some further emphases.
They inform both the way we work and the things we produce.
Theological and Missiological Reflection
In contrast to some recent trends in modern missions, we do not view speed or reproducibility as the highest aims in church planting efforts. Our ecclesiology and ministry philosophy serve as the foundation for how we approach evangelism and discipleship.
People Over Product
Relationships matter. We strive to be personable, accessible, and committed to success together.
Quality Products for the Least of These
We care about bringing excellence and delight to our end users (missionary teams and unreached language groups).
Our Partners
We regularly serve alongside these organizations.
Our Story
Abandon Her Passion or Say “No” to Missions
While getting her engineering degree, Jaya felt God pulling her heart towards mission work. However, there was no clear path for integrating software engineering with church planting efforts in the context of frontier missions.
FAQs
We do not create content. We help missionaries make their own content accessible to their audience. We do this by building mobile applications.
No, the missionaries who create the content own it.
No, distribution is the responsibility of the missionaries for whom we build our apps.
We welcome any disciplines (UI/UX design, web design, project management, etc) needed for building technical solutions. Get in touch if you’re skilled in these areas and want to be involved in using your gifts for the unreached.
See the Creeds.
Upstream is held accountable financially and theologically by a mission agency.
There are many ways to grow in understanding the unreached. It can be an overwhelming and confusing experience for some. For example, many different terms can be found in the missions world to articulate slightly different concepts, such as, “unreached language groups”, “unengaged unreached people groups”, “frontier people groups”, “least reached peoples”, “ethno-linguistic groups”...the list goes on!
To clear this up and get you started on your journey, here are some places we’d point you to:
- Perspectives – If you’re in a country with a course nearby, we’d encourage you to look at joining.
- Joshua Project and People Groups – We’d encourage you to begin by praying for the unreached. These two resources are great for exploring particular unreached groups and knowing how to pray for them. Joshua Project Definitions is a great page for disentangling all of the jargon associated with the unreached world.
Technologists
Build for the Unreached
Discover how you can code and design for the unreached. Join our community to learn and contribute to church planting efforts.
ServeMissionaries
Empower Your Mission
Begin a conversation with us to explore whether our tailored apps can empower your mission.
Partner