Read letters from Jeff and Christi Boyd
March 2013
December 2012
September 2012
2012 Itineration
March 2012
December 2011
April 2011
December 2010
February 26, 2010
December 31, 2009
March 26, 2009
For older letters, contact Mission Connections
Jeff and Christi Boyd
Mission co-workers in Cameroon
Serving as regional liaison for Central Africa (Jeff) and
the Presbyterian Hunger Progam's Joinng Hands facilitator
(Christi)
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Jeff and Christi are currently in the USA and based in KY. They are available to speak as their schedule permits. Email them to extend an invitation to your congregation or organization.
About Jeff and Christi Boyd's ministry
In June 1999 the Boyds accepted their third assignment as mission co-workers of the PC(USA), this one to Yaoundé, Cameroon. They are currently serving through the invitation of the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PPC). Jeff is the PC(USA) liaison for Central Africa. In this role he facilitates PC(USA) relationships with partner churches and institutions in Cameroon, Congo, and Equatorial Guinea. He also provides support for PC(USA) mission personnel and is a resource for U.S. congregations that are in a relationship with one of the PC(USA)'s partners in the region. Jeff’s special focus is on the educational work of the PC(USA)'s partners.
Not out of Africa
Watch a video in which Jeff talks about his work in Cameroon.
Jeff and Christi Boyd begin third decade of mission service on continent
Meet Jeff and Christi in a short video
View videos about Christi’s work: successful grain banks; the “Fair Fruit” project; Partners for Just Trade.
Download a bulletin insert that lifts up the work of Jeff and Christi Boyd in Cameroon.
Download a prayer card that lifts up the work of Jeff and Christi Boyd in Cameroon.
Christi is the companionship facilitator for the Presbyterian Hunger Program’s “Joining Hands” initiative in Cameroon. Working with Cameroonian mainstream churches, nonprofit organizations, and grassroots communities, she has facilitated the establishment of the national network, RELUFA, and the development of its programs. They include cooperative grain banks in northern Cameroon, a microfinance program, a Fair Trade dried fruit project, and an anticorruption campaign focusing on revenue management in oil, gas and mining projects. Christi helps further the accompaniment of these programs by U.S. churches and edits the Joining Hands Newsletter, a quarterly online periodical under the auspices of the Presbyterian Hunger Program with updates from the Joining Hands community at large.
Before a change in responsibilities in mid-2002, Jeff served for three years as a consultant to the education department of the Eglise Presbyterienne Camerounaise (EPC) and its 51 schools.
Regional context
The countries of Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Equatorial Guinea are rich in natural resources, but unfortunately that wealth is in the hands of only a few people. Most people in these countries struggle with poverty, disease and lack of access to education. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) works with partners in all three countries to address these challenges. Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo have large and growing Presbyterian churches. The Presbyterian presence in Equatorial Guinea, a predominately Roman Catholic country, is much smaller. The PC(USA) has more than a century of mission history in these countries.
About Jeff and Christi Boyd
Prior to their assignment in Cameroon the Boyds had been working since 1996 in Kinshasa, capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The outbreak of renewed fighting in 1998 forced them to leave abruptly in order to ensure the safety and stability of their family. In the DRC Jeff was the assistant director in the Education Department of the Presbyterian Community of Kinshasa (CPK). In this position he evaluated and made recommendations on the educational programs and management of the CPK’s 95 primary and secondary schools. He also assessed the physical and material needs of the schools and assisted in the development of project proposals. While ministering through the home, Christi accompanied activities of the CPK’s Women's Department, in solidarity with their struggles in family, church and society.
Following their evacuation from the Congo in 1998, the Boyds were missionaries-in-residence in the Worldwide Ministries Division (now World Mission) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Jeff worked with the Booth Family Africa Fund (BFAF) to set up and implement procedures for receiving, appraising and funding grant proposals from Africa in the areas of education, evangelism and leadership development. His work in both the Congo and Cameroon are connected with the BFAF. Christi compiled a thorough profile of Presbyterian missions in the DRC.
During the first five years of their service as mission co-workers (1990–1995) the Boyds were in Njombe, Tanzania, where Jeff taught math at Mpechi Secondary School and Christi taught the basics of rehabilitation to nursing students of Ilembula Lutheran Hospital. During the three years prior to their commissioning as mission co-workers they lived in Fresno, California, where Jeff was a lecturer in mathematics while earning his M.A. in mathematics at California State University and Christi worked in a clinic for physical therapy. After studying at the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California, Jeff attended and graduated with a B.A. in mathematics from Whitworth College in Spokane, Washington. He spent two years (1985–1987) as a volunteer teacher and computer systems manager with the PC(USA) at the Barr Training Institute in Gujranwala, Pakistan.
Christi was educated in the Netherlands. She has a degree in physical therapy from the Academie voor Fysiotherapie in Groningen and took additional courses at the Gymnologisch Instituut in Utrecht. After her studies she worked for five years as a physical therapist in a convalescent hospital in Groningen. She also spent a year in Pakistan working as a physical therapist for the Salvation Army Rural Rehabilitation Training Center in Lahore.
Jeff and Christi are the parents of three children, Matthias, Salome and Naomi. In June 2007 Matthias graduated from the American School of Yaoundé and has since rejoined the family in Yaoundé to work as a volunteer with PC(USA) partners. Salome graduated from high school in 2009 and is now studying rural development at the Van Hall Larenstein University of Professional Education in Wageningen, the Netherlands. Naomi, after attending secondary school in Yaoundé, will start college in the fall of 2012.
The Boyds are members of Crescent Hill Presbyterian Church in Louisville, Kentucky.
Birthdays:
Jeff - April 9
Christi - September 4
Matthias - September 27
Salome - July 21
Naomi - July 4
