A Report from Panamá

For more than two centuries, the Naval & Military Bible Society (NMBS) has worked to place the Scriptures into the hands of those serving at sea and in the armed forces. Founded in 1779, the Society today continues this historic ministry by supplying Bibles and Christian literature to military personnel and merchant seafarers around the world, often working through chaplains and maritime ministries who meet seafarers where they live and work. The following report from Fr. Ian Hutchinson-Cervantes of the Mission to Seafarers in Panama offers a simple but powerful example of what this ministry can mean. In the isolation of life at sea, the gift of a Bible can be much more than a book-it can provide connection, encouragement, and hope.

Seafarers calling into Panama are often extremely busy as it is a convenient port for bunkering, taking on provisions, off loading rubbish, and sludge as well as the usual heavy workload involved in operations.

Unfortunately Panama is also a convencient hub for the drug cartels and it is not unusual for containers to be contaminated preventing this requires strict security measures. Some shipping lines resort to staffing their vessels with teams of guards to monitor the seals on the containers and to deter any shore side efforts to smuggle aboard all types of contraband.

The teams are of rotated rarely remaining long on the ship as developing friendships and becoming part of the shipboard community could, potentially compromise their effectiveness. For many this means that their time at sea is particularly lonely and this is exacerbated by the fact that they do not enjoy the opportunity of shore leave.

I met the security guard (in the beige shirt) when visiting this vessel. The Filipino seafarer had requested a bible and when the young guard saw it he, too, asked for one. The guard is a devout Christian and has been struggling with despondency that born of loneliness and isolation. The Filipino bible is an NMBS Tagalog/English and so I gave the young man a small English NTP. I apologised for not having a bigger bible with larger print to which his reply was “You may think that this is a small thing…to me it is the biggest gift you could give me!”

Thank you NMBS, without you our ministry here would be poorer and the lives of seafarers that yearn for connection too. Bless you and know that you are remembered in grateful prayer.

Testimony from
Ian Hutchinson-Cervantes,
Mission to Seafarers
Panama

(Reproduced with permission from NMBS update newsletter 24 August 2026)