Now that you know we will be going to Panama City, Panama, you may be wondering what we will be doing there.

In two words…Church Planting! But let’s take a closer look…

Reaching Expatriates
We have the exciting opportunity to join a young church as their lead pastor.  LifeBridge International Church was planted four years ago with the purpose of reaching the expatriate community in Panama City. So, who are expatriates? An expatriate is anyone living outside of their passport country.  So in this case, anyone who is not Panamanian. As church planters to Panama City we are excited to see LifeBridge grow and see more churches planted in the city.  

Hablas Espanol?

Although Panama is a Spanish-speaking country LifeBridge is an English-speaking congregation.  That’s because the expatriate community is 10-20% of the population and many of these people do not speak Spanish.  English is the common language among this group and is what brings them together. As international church planters with have the unique opportunity to reach a group of people from all over the world who find themselves in Panama. [Although the church is English-speaking we will brushing up (Nate) and learning (Jendi) Spanish.]

LifeBridgers come from all over the world and although they all don’t speak Spanish, many know 3+ languages.  They have a passion for Christ and serve their community relentlessly.  The people of LifeBridge are what we are most excited about.  We can’t wait to get to Panama to work and serve alongside of this group.  Be sure to keep checking back on the blog for future series introducing you to some of these awesome people.

Not Alone
The path to get where we are today has been God-driven and we didn’t just wake up one day and decide “let’s go to Panama City to be church planters”. Before we even made the decision to go we had the support, encouragement and direction from two great organizations: Converge Worldwide and The International Baptist Convention (IBC).We are thrilled to be going as missionaries with Converge International Ministries and partnering with the IBC. Both of these organizations put a large emphasis on church planting and have helped us decipher that international church planting is our call.   

In the weeks and  months to come you will hear more and more about our ministry to Panama City, but please be praying that God uses LifeBridge in big and mighty ways and that our ministry in Panama City would bring Him honor and glory.

Next week we will be address the question that we probably get the MOST: Is Decker moving to Panama?