The Church of God in Panama
Short-Term Missionary Joe Mercer recently returned from a trip to Panama, where he had been preaching and conducting his latest missions work. This trip consisted of visiting remote villages and a maximum security prison, spreading the Gospel in those places least likely to hear it any other way. Two of the villages were only accessible by boat.
Panama, in Central America, has a population of a little over three million, and has the most rapidly growing economy in the region, thanks to transit fees from the Panama Canal, which connects the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. The Canal is frequently used by commercial freighters to reduce travel times by several days between ports in western Europe and eastern Asia. While estimates show that the majority of the population identifies as one of the various Christian sects, primarily Catholic, there is no official census data on religious affiliation and, much like the rest of the region, Christianity is often polluted with tribal beliefs, especially in more remote villages. In addition, many people who identify with a religion are not active practitioners of their faith.
The Church of God has 239 churches and 18,961 members in Panama.
