Who we areQuiénes somos

A Reformed church plant on the Pacific coast of Panamá.

The name

Providence is the doctrine that God upholds, directs, and governs everything He has made — down to the smallest detail, including the details you would not have chosen. It is the most practical doctrine in Scripture. It is why a small congregation on a Central American beach can plant a church without fear, and it is the answer we keep coming back to when life here does not go according to plan.

Our story

Providence Church launched in 2023 under the name The Epicenter, out of John and Wendy Sawkins' desire to see a church planted in Coronado that was sound in doctrine and rooted in its community. Some people here still know us by that name.

We landed in the space we occupy now, sharing the facility with Templo Gosun, who meet on Mondays and Thursdays. Our first work together was practical rather than theoretical: supporting and expanding their donation centre for the poor of this community, and helping them afford and improve the building itself. That partnership continues.

Then we ran into Coronado. This is a seasonal town, and a congregation that thins out for months at a time is a hard foundation for a weekly service. Rather than pretend otherwise, we stopped, reassessed, and put our effort into men's and women's Bible studies through the week — the parts of church life that survive a thin season.

At Easter 2026 we were able to coordinate with Rev. Marc Omar to relaunch Sunday worship under the name Providence Church. Providential and generous support from University Heights Baptist Church in Oklahoma, together with several local missionaries and church leaders here, has since allowed us to run a short missions trip and widen our reach among expatriates and Panamanians alike.

So we are early. We would rather tell you that than dress it up.

A biblical culture

We seek to establish a biblical culture — in this congregation, in this community, and in this country — by attending to the three things Scripture holds together and never separates:

Orthodoxy — right belief. What is true about God, stated plainly and held without embarrassment.
Orthopraxy — right practice. Lives, homes, work, and money actually shaped by what we say we believe.
Orthopathy — rightly ordered affections. Loving what God loves and hating what He hates, rather than merely assenting to a list.

A church that gets the doctrine right and the living wrong has not got it right. Neither has a church that manages both and feels nothing. Scripture asks for all three, and we intend to ask for all three.

Where we are going

Two things, in order.

First, to become a membership-supported church — a congregation that stands on the giving and service of its own people rather than leaning on outside support indefinitely.

Second, to build toward seminary-level training for local pastors, elders, and deacons. Panamá does not need more visiting teachers so much as it needs trained men who are already here. What is taught in this room should not stop in this room.

Who we are

We are Panamanians and expatriates — Canadians, Americans, and others who have made this coast home, alongside families who have been here for generations. That mix is not an accident we tolerate; it is a picture of what the church is supposed to be.

We are independent Reformed. Our members come out of Presbyterian, Anglican, and Baptist backgrounds and from half a dozen countries, held together not by a denominational office but by the Reformed faith we confess in writing.

What we want to be

A preaching church. The pulpit is central because the Word is central.
A confessional church. We tell you what we believe, in writing, and we are accountable to it.
A family church. Children in worship, catechized at home, growing up knowing why they believe.
A church for both languages. We worship in English with live Spanish translation, so that Panamanians and expatriates sit in one service rather than two.
An ordinary church. Word, sacrament, prayer, fellowship, week after week, for a long time.

With thanks

We are supported from the United States by University Heights Baptist Church in Oklahoma, and here in Panamá by a number of local missionaries and church leaders. We would not be holding services without them, and we would rather say so publicly than quietly.

That a Baptist congregation supports a paedobaptist church plant is worth noticing. We hold our confession firmly — the whole of it is published on this site, including the article on baptism — and we count as brothers those who hold theirs just as firmly and differ from us. Conservative Reformed Christians have never been of one denomination, and it has never been necessary that they should be.

What we are not

We are not a performance, a network, or an event. There is no light show. There is no growth strategy that depends on you never being asked anything. We are trying to be a normal church in the historic sense of that word — which, in 2026, is apparently unusual.

What we teach Our confession