Panama Updates 1

Since we plan to return to Panama in the Fall, I continued to research on the needs of the Chinese there, particularly in David and Bocas del Toro, where we will spend half of our time the next trip. I found a series of short video clips by a Southern Baptist pastor, John Mark Hansen, whose calling was to reach the 300,000 ethnic Chinese (including those of Chinese descent or of mixed blood who do not speak Chinese) in Panama. He and his family moved to Panama in 2004 and served there till 2008, when his father’s health necessitated his returning to the US. They identified 12 communities where the Chinese are concentrated, and their vision was to establish 200 home churches in these communities. I corresponded with him and hoped to learn some of the insights he had gathered in his five years of ministry there. Here is part 1 of my compilation of his clips:

Overview of their ministry:

1. Panama City (巴拿馬): There are 7 Chinese churches here:
(1) Iglesia Evangelica China de Panama 巴京堂,
(2) La Iglesia Alianza de Cerro Viento 靈豐堂,
(3) Obarrio Alliance Church 愛華堂,
(4) 宣道會活泉堂,
(5) Iglesia Evangelica Libre China de Panama 播道會,
(6) Iglesia Bautista China de Panama 浸信會,
(7) 柬區歸主教會

2. Chitre (奇特利):

The decimal point for Chitre’s population statistics at the beginning of the clip was off. Three years ago the total population would be no more than 45,000, with the Chinese population around 1,000. The clip showed David and Shirley Ng as pastors as of Feb. 2008, as Cecilia and O Mei had not yet arrived.