A letter from Jeff and Christi Boyd in Cameroon
March 2012 - INTErpretation
Dear friends,
Greetings in the name of Christ!
In about four months the Boyds will once again head to the United States for our 2012 Mission Interpretation Assignment, followed by a short study leave in 2013. We welcome invitations from churches, presbyteries, church camps, mission conferences or any other venue where we can suitably share about PC(USA) mission, the ministries of our partners in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Equatorial Guinea, and our involvement in each. We anticipate returning to the mission field later in 2013. For the first time that will be without children as Naomi, our youngest and a high school senior, will start college in the fall. Her siblings, Matthias and Salome, are already studying. Our family is grateful for the various ways we have been supported over the past 22 years by presbyteries, churches, and individuals. This assistance through Presbyterian World Mission has allowed our family to stay in the mission field. It continues to be a blessing and privilege to serve that way our partners in Africa and the membership of the PC(USA).
Attached you can find our preliminary plans indicating block periods of our availability to itinerate. Dates are estimates, however, and will be subject to change as we hear back from churches. Past experiences have shown that churches can help us tremendously in setting up an itineration with speaking arrangements that demonstrate good stewardship of time and resources, first by letting us know as soon as possible of your interest and secondly by working in synergy with other churches in your area or presbytery. In the latter case we can ask the Mission Connections Office to help you coordinate an itineration in your larger area (please see the note at the end of this letter*). That way, some of the invitations coming from the same part of the country might be able to be organized through one hub, and the earlier such regional interest becomes clear, the better the chance for a visit. You can list desired dates in order of preference, and counting on your trust and understanding, we will try to put a schedule together that seems most feasible. If none of these times work for you, we could make an exception and consider dates in the first half of 2013, but please bear in mind that that period has been set aside for study and other capacity building activities.
Whenever possible, we'd like to make our visits as a couple. Actually, in July we’ll be driving across country with our three kids, who will be with us during part of their summer holidays. We realize that when driving is not a feasible option, the cost of flights may require that only one of us comes for a visit. In that case, please indicate if you have a preference to hear from Christi or from Jeff. Christi will be able to share about the Joining Hands initiative and the efforts by RELUFA (network for the fight against hunger) to confront issues of justice and poverty in Cameroon. Jeff can lift up a variety of the ministries (education, development, health, evangelism, and more) of our ecclesiastic partners in any of the three countries mentioned above. Each of us can speak to Presbyterian World Mission in general.
Attached you'll find a list of some of the different ways we can share about the mission of the church, including full presentation with slides, Sunday School hour, preaching, minute for mission, weekend retreat, workshop, children’s sermon, presbytery meeting, mission committee meeting, etc. We can work in a variety of settings and with almost any age group, but for our own preparations it is helpful for us to know well in advance which format you’d like us to use.
Last but not least, our home base in the U.S. at the furlough home at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Kentucky has already been arranged, but we’re still looking for a reliable and affordable car to borrow, rent or lease. If you have any leads on that, please let us know. Ideally, we’ll find a car in California that we could drive out to Kentucky with our kids and then return it 6–12 months later.
We hope to hear from you soon so that we can start making plans to visit with you. Please e-mail us directly at jeff.boyd@pcusa.org (for Jeff) and christi.boyd@pcusa.org (for Christi). Our Skype accounts are jcmsnboyd (Jeff) and cjmsnboyd (Christi). Until June 20 we can be reached by phone at +237 9931 2986 or 87. Currently we do not have a U.S. phone number to offer for our time in the U.S.
With greetings from the whole family,
Jeff and Christi
CLICK HERE - for a printable PDF of our available formats for speaking engagements.
CLICK HERE - for a printable PDF of our schedule with availablity.
The 2012 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 88
Write to Jeff Boyd
Write to Christi Boyd
Give to Jeff and Christi Boyd's sending and support
* How the Mission Connections office can help
If you have several congregations in your presbytery that are willing to work together on our visit, and if you are willing to work with your presbytery office (mission advocate, mission chair, Hunger Action Enabler, and/or the presbytery executive), Carol Somplatsky-Jarman, PC(USA) Associate for Mission Connections, can work with you to schedule a visit. Tel: 1-888-728-7228, ext. 5826, or e-mail: Rachel.Anderson@pcusa.org. When a presbytery is able to host us for 7–10 days of presbytery itineration, the Mission Connections office will pay for the cost of round-trip transportation to the presbytery. The presbytery is then responsible for scheduling the visits (this can include both churches already supporting us and churches that have not yet heard our message). In addition, the presbytery provides for transportation within the presbytery, plus hospitality (food and housing).
Outside of this arrangement with the Mission Connections office, it is generally expected that the inviting congregation(s) cover the cost of our visit (travel and hospitality). However, if you are not able to cover the entire cost, we will work with you, as sometimes congregations provide more travel support and that helps to cover the cost of those congregations that cannot cover the full costs. We do ask, however, that you make these arrangements with us ahead of time.
