Tim Byers
USA
Executive Director, The Kijkandee Foundation

Tim Byers has been involved in Member Care ministry with missionaries for more than sixteen years. After starting out in Bangkok, Tim and his wife, Cathy moved to Chiang Mai and have raised and home schooled four children in this community. He served for twelve years as the South and Southeast Asia Member Care provider for Mission To Unreached People, the last 3 years as a team leader. Tim’s ministry for MUP involved travel to missionary ministry sites throughout Asia and the visits were focused on interventions that helped missionaries and their families to deal with issues before they became major problems. This travel experience has given him an appreciation of the struggles that people face in the unique settings in which they serve.

After resigning from his ministry positions with MUP, Tim was invited to serve as the Executive Director of The Well. One of the first tasks that Tim and Harry Hoffmann, the founder of The Well, pursued together was to register as a Thai Foundation. The name of the foundation is Kijkandii. When this foundation was established Tim served as the Chairman of the Foundation and he also served for two years as the Director of The Well Member Care Project, which is the main project of this foundation.

Specialized Training:

Tim continues to be involved in The Well Member Care Project as a consultant and as a counselor. His background in pastoral ministry and his years of experience in missions have given him training and experience in conflict resolution which he provides to mission agencies, missionary teams and nationals as needed. He is also trained and experienced in the use of Prepare/ Enrich which The Well offers for both premarital and marital counseling. Like many of the Member Care Providers at The Well Tim is trained in the use of the CernySmith Cross Cultural Adjustment Index and the Peer to Peer Crisis Debriefing.

Services offered through The Well:

• On-site ministry support
• Conflict Mediation
• Marriage counseling
• Advocate for preventative member care

Heartbeat:

Tim and Cathy’s passion is to provide member care personnel and missionaries with the tools, ministry and encouragement that help them thrive in the midst of the stress related to their cross cultural life and ministry. They seek to champion Member Care for missionaries as the Biblical mandate for Church. This is best accomplished by equipping and encouraging every one interested in Missions in the “one another” ministries. Their “Preventative Care” emphasis focus’ attention on marriage, family, ministry and spiritual life to encourage missionaries to address life issues and ministry challenges before they develop into crisis.


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