When International Mission Board missionaries Jeff and Shelah Fathauer heard 12 young women from California Baptist University were coming to serve in Panama, they were excited to connect them to a local church in Caimito, a rural district. But as they considered ministry opportunities for an all-female team, they found themselves in uncharted territory.
The Fathauers, who serve as IMB’s first mobilization unit in Panama Oeste, have spent the last year connecting with pastors and churches across the province’s five districts.
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Shelah explained, “Our strategy is to hear the local church’s approach to missional living in their community and what kinds of opportunities they want to pursue or are already implementing that a volunteer team can come alongside and help. Then we brainstorm with the pastors how a particular volunteer team might be encouraging.”
But a young team of all women presented a unique opportunity.
In May, they visited the pastor and his wife from the church in Caimito. As they chatted over coffee, the Fathauers were thrilled to learn the church had a heart for reaching women in their community.
The pastor’s wife had an idea. Would the young women from CBU want to help their church host a women’s workshop? She showed Shelah photos of similar outreach events they had already hosted in their community. The gatherings, she explained, typically drew around 30 to 40 women and were organized around an activity like painting or making jewelry and an opportunity to present the gospel.
Addressing ‘abuse and brokenness’
It was the perfect match. All that remained was finding an activity to do with the women. Shelah, who has a background in mental health counseling, confessed she was “not a creative type of person” and struggled to come up with an idea.
Providentially, she landed on the perfect thing when she discovered a trauma healing art book created by veteran IMB missionaries to Cuba.
Shelah pointed out how women in the community often experience harsh realities in their daily lives.
“We’ve been told there’s a lot of abuse and brokenness in the family system,” Shelah said. “Because of hardship and poverty, there’s a lot of stress. Women carry a tremendous amount of responsibility to maintain the home when there’s very little food and keep up with the kids when there’s very little help.”
When it came time for the workshop, each woman received their own copy of the art book and new colored pencils to take home. During their time together, the CBU students took turns breaking down sections of the book in more depth and unpacking the attributes of God together.
One of Shelah’s favorite moments came when the CBU team leader, Claudia Valdez, shared her testimony of God’s faithfulness amid a tragic loss.
“I was able to share my personal testimony of losing my only child, Urijah, at eight years old, and how God has remained faithful through my deepest grief and heartache,” Valdez said. “It was powerful to see women from different backgrounds connect through shared struggles and be reminded that healing, hope and purpose are found in Christ.”
The Panamanian women engaged deeply with the gospel presentation, and before they knew it, it was time to wrap up. When Shelah gave the women a five-minute warning, audible groans filled the room. No one wanted their time to end. As they parted ways, the CBU team encouraged the local women to keep working through the material together.
“What I love so much about this book is that it’s a curriculum that can span weeks,” Shelah explained. She was thrilled when the pastor’s wife asked if they could reuse the art books for future women’s ministry events.
“We don’t want to create any kind of dependency, or to come in, host a fiery, flashy event and then move on,” Shelah continued. “With this resource, we can encourage the church to continue offering weekly or biweekly meetings, and it can become an ongoing platform for them in a very sustainable way.”
Steadfast presence
Shelah admitted breaking ground in an area where IMB hasn’t had an established presence has been both a joy and a challenge. She highlighted the value of collaboration between U.S. and local ministry partners both for opening doors and maintaining a steadfast presence.
Throughout their trip, Valdez recalled their team repeatedly heard their presence was an answer to prayer. They walked away with a fresh vision for how God uses His people to strengthen and refresh one another.
“These partnerships reflect the unity of God’s global Church,” Valdez explained. “They allow us to encourage one another, serve alongside local believers and support ministries that are faithfully reaching their communities year-round.”
As mobilizers, the Fathauers love to see partners experience mutual encouragement. They pray more U.S. and Panamanian churches will partner to spur one another on as they reach further and deeper into their communities with the hope of the gospel.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Kristen Sosebee and originally published by the International Mission Board.
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