A Concept Paper on Kwiverr
by Dr. Yaw Perbi, Founding International Director
“Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are children born in one’s youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their opponents in court.”
(Psalm 127:4-5, NIV, emphasis ours)
IN THE BEGINNING
“We have a problem.” Kwiverr was born out of a desperation to see multitudes of movements of empowered internationals impacting the world through flourishing missional communities among unreached people groups. The power of that promise was equal to the pain of ‘post-harvest losses’ of internationals who had begun the transformation process in their host countries but lost it in no time, especially upon returning to their original contexts (home countries). The observation that much of international student ministry (ISM) in particular was settling into an ‘ISM Industrial Complex’ was the last straw that broke the camel’s back.
The stage was set for the emergence of Kwiverr—a nourishing missional community of catalysts, coaches, connectors, consultants and creatives (5Cs) forging innovative research-based paradigms and praxes to exponentially multiply flourishing missional leaders and communities, including church plants, among unreached people groups towards finishing the finishables.
Kwiverr is a community of the 5 Cs spawning disciple-making movements (DMM) and church-planting movements (CPM) to, with, through and beyond internationals. Kwivver sits at the intersection of international education and migration, leadership development and faith formation, missional multiplication and the good society.
PARTNERS AND ADVISORS
Companions in this consortium include Simply Mobilizing (Kairos course), Contagious Disciple-Making (CDM), Global Church Planting Network (GCPN), Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (GACX), No Place Left, 24:14 Network, Finish the Task (FTT), MoveIn, Multiplied Impact, Every International, Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, The HuD Group, Yaw Perbi Executive Education, Arrow Leadership, and Tyndale University’s Intercultural Ministry Centre. International Student Ministries Canada (ISMC) is the operational backbone of this consortium.
Advisors to Kwiverr include Lorna Johnston (National Leader, Simply Mobilizing Canada), Peter Scazzero (Founder and author, Emotionally Healthy Discipleship), Enoch Wan (Professor of Missiology, Western Seminary), Lisa Pak (Global Strategist, Finish the Task), Dave Bennet (Associate Director for Collaboration & Content, Lausanne Movement), Gregg Hinzelman (Founder, Multiplied Impact), Murray Moerman (Founder, Global Church Planting Network) and Dan Hitzhusen (Global Church Planting Strategist, Finishing the Task).
THE KWIVERR DNA
The DNA of any organization is constituted by its vision, mission and values. Here are Kwiverr’s:
Vision
To see ministries to internationals locally and globally become disciple-making-leader-forming-church-planting-marketplace-impacting movements to close the Great Commission within our lifetime.
Mission
To drive deep reflection and radical research into paradigms and praxes that catalyze ministries into movements to leave no people or place unreached.
In other words, catalyzing movements of internationals in a research-informed manner, as reflective practitioners.
Values
Missio Dei—is ‘the mission of God’ in Latin. God’s three-fold mission, in which God’s people get to participate at His invitation, comprises 1. bringing Himself glory through the obedience and worship of all nations, 2. bringing the blessing of shalom to all peoples through salvation in Jesus Christ and 3. vanquishing evil to establish His kingdom on earth forever, as it is in heaven.
Internationals—people on the move, also known as diaspora. We especially value Unreached People Groups (UPGs) on the move. A people group is an ethno-linguistic group with a common self-identity that is shared by the various members. For strategic purposes, it is the largest group within which the Gospel can spread without encountering barriers of understanding or acceptance. A people group is considered unreached (UPG) when there isn’t a significant community of believing Christians among them able to engage this people group with self-sustaining indigenous church planting. Statistically-speaking, the percentage of evangelical Christians in a UPG is less than 2 percent.
Finishing the finishables—the idea of ensuring that the gospel penetrates each of the remaining 6,000 unreached people groups because Jesus isn’t returning until that, which is finite and completable, is done (see Matthew 24:14).
Missional leadership—paying attention to and participating in what God is doing in and around a person in order to serve and influence others towards fulfilling the mission of God.
Missional communities—committed groups of Jesus followers, the size of an extended family, empowered by the Spirit, to participate in God’s mission of redemption in a particular neighborhood and/or network.[i]
Movements—a minimum of one thousand persons who have come to Christ within multiple streams to a fourth generation. A fourth-generation church is one that came into being when new believers (first generation) won new believers to Christ (second generation) who in turn won new believers (third generation) who in turn won new believers incorporated into a spiritual fourth-generation small group or church.[ii]
Innovation—Constantly improving and replacing paradigms and processes, products and services to renew the old and create new value for mission.
KWIVERRITES
The following are the players at Kwiverr.
- Shooter | Lord of the Harvest | God is the archer; not us.
- Sharpened Shafts | Arrows | Empowered internationals reaching out to, with, through and beyond unreached people groups.
- Sharpeners | 5Cs | Catalysts, Connectors, Coaches, Consultants, Creatives, that sharpen each other and the shafts for the sake of the mission of God. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).
- Sheaths | Places and spaces | Nourishing environments for the flourishing of both sharpened shafts and sharpeners. The think tanks, incubators, labs and accelerators represent these sheaths.
Watch this space, Kwiverr, for the mind-blowing moves of the Great Archer, as He inspires and empowers His people to catalyze the day of His final appearing. Maranatha!
[i] https://www.missionalchurchnetwork.com/blog/what-is-a-missional-community
[ii] Moerman, Murray. 2021. Mobilizing Movements: Leadership Insights for Discipling Whole Nations. Littleton, CO: William Carey Publishing, xvi.
