What We Do
Our Work in Panama
Preaching in the villages, training pastors at the Bible Institute, and putting Scripture into the language of the Wounaan people.
PMF Bible Institute
Training Leaders Who Will Train Others
The PMF Bible Institute equips indigenous pastors to plant churches and multiply disciples across Panama.
Established in 2014 in the District of Chiman, Panama, the PMF Bible Institute provides a 2.5-year diploma program in Pastoral Ministry. Students are faithful, reliable men selected from local communities to become the next generation of indigenous church leaders.
Graduates leave equipped to preach the Gospel, plant new churches, disciple believers, shepherd congregations, and train other men, ensuring the mission continues long after any single missionary departs.
Support the InstituteOur Story
Three indigenous peoples make their home in the rainforests of the Darien: the Wounaan, the Emberá, and the Guna. Their villages are reachable only by boat. PMF goes to them, village by village, one boat ride at a time.
1995
The Work Begins
Vince & Gretta and their two young boys make their first trip to Panama. They experience firsthand how difficult it is to live and to work in the rainforest. Vince continued to make annual trips to Panama, learning Spanish, teaching God's Word, building relationships. Through this, God was laying the foundation for something more.
2007
Founded
Vince & Gretta Payne establish Panama Mission Foundation, launching boat-based Gospel outreach to remote jungle villages.
2014
Bible Institute Opens
The PMF Bible Institute launches in Chiman with a 2.5-year pastoral diploma program.
Today
A Multiplying Movement
31+ years in. Trained men are planting churches and training the next generation to continue the work. The translation of the Old Testament into Woun Meo is more than 50% complete and, Lord willing, the Wounaan will soon have a complete Bible in their native language.
1995
The Work Begins
Vince & Gretta and their two young boys make their first trip to Panama. They experience firsthand how difficult it is to live and to work in the rainforest. Vince continued to make annual trips to Panama, learning Spanish, teaching God's Word, building relationships. Through this, God was laying the foundation for something more.
2007
Founded
Vince & Gretta Payne establish Panama Mission Foundation, launching boat-based Gospel outreach to remote jungle villages.
2014
Bible Institute Opens
The PMF Bible Institute launches in Chiman with a 2.5-year pastoral diploma program.
Today
A Multiplying Movement
31+ years in. Trained men are planting churches and training the next generation to continue the work. The translation of the Old Testament into Woun Meo is more than 50% complete and, Lord willing, the Wounaan will soon have a complete Bible in their native language.
Darien Fluvial Outreach
There are an estimated 5,000+ miles of rivers and tributaries in the Darien province. PMF has begun a large-scale, multi-year campaign targeting every community situated along their banks. Sending out teams in rotation, communities along all waterways will be visited. Even small tributaries will be traveled to the point they are no longer navigable or until resistance makes further progress impossible.
Teams will be equipped with Starlink satellite equipment, mapping and demographic software, allowing them to document their travels, record the geocoordinates of each community and input pertinent information about each. We will prioritize villages that have never been evangelized. Where we are welcomed, evangelization will begin immediately.
Over time, the place markers added to the master map will show us clearly where we have been and where we have yet to travel. With God’s help, we will take the Gospel to every man, woman, and child in Darien, Panama.
Translation Underway
Scripture in Their Own Tongue
PMF is partnering in the translation of the Old Testament into Woun Meo, the native language of the Wounaan people. The work is more than 50% complete and, Lord willing, the Wounaan will soon have a complete Bible in their native language, so that indigenous believers in eastern Panama and Colombia can read and hear God's Word in the language of their hearts.
Over 50%
Of the Old Testament translated into Woun Meo, the Wounaan native language
“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne.”
From the Field
The Villages Your Gift Reaches
Every donation sends a missionary by boat to communities no road will ever reach.
Partner With PMF
Send the Gospel Where You Cannot Go
Your gift goes directly to field operations and pastoral training. PMF is 501(c)(3) approved, all donations are tax-deductible, and every board member serves without compensation.