‘I’ve always considered Christ to be one of the greatest revolutionaries in the history of humanity’ – Fidel Castro.
The Cuban revolution launched by los barbudos (the bearded men) – including the famous Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos – stunned the world in the late 1950s. Almost 65 years on, the country is still one of the few officially Marxist-Leninist states in existence. The late Fidel Castro governed for 55 years before passing on the reins to his brother Raúl. Miguel Díaz-Canel has been President for the last five years, bringing the rule of the Castros to an end, but keeping the Revolution alive.
However, on a recent visit to Cuba it appears that the revolution of Jesus Christ is also having a deep (and eternal) effect on the country. Fidel once stated: ‘I never saw a contradiction between the ideas that sustain me and the ideas of that symbol, of that extraordinary figure, Jesus Christ.’ Many would agree to differ with that statement, but in a country hit incredibly hard by Covid, it is the spiritual dimension – whether forms of African religion or Christianity – that are flourishing, as a beleaguered nation wonders what the future might hold.
The trip of a couple of Cuba for Christ trustees and a director of MOCLAM (lay training theological education used across Latin America with a Biblical theological approach) was a trip which combined delight and despair as we travelled across the width and breath of this beautiful Caribbean island. In the midst of a nationwide lack of food, medicine and petrol, of crumbling infrastructure and a crisis in emigration; what were the encouragements and challenges faced by Cuban Christians (and what can we learn from them)?
Challenges to the Cuban church
Let’s start with a few of the challenges. We in the UK are struggling with inflation and increased interest rates, but in Cuba everyone is fighting to just keep their heads above water. 72% live below the poverty line and 21% of those daily go without a meal. The average wage is £30 pounds a month and pensions are the amongst the lowest in the Americas; $9.50 monthly (2022 figures). Pastors are in the same boat. None that we met had their own cars, although there was an American ministry giving pastors mopeds so that they could get around to visit people.
This leads to the second great challenge for churches, and all the population – that of emigration. Although this has always been an issue in Cuba – the years since Covid has been the worse yet – greater even than the crisis after the fall of the USSR and its impact on Cuba (known as ‘el período especial ’). Some denominations report losing half their pastors over the last two years and seminaries have had the same experience with their lecturers. This has meant a huge loss of leadership experience, many young leaders having to step up and many churches without pastors at all. This is also true at a lay level with many key Christians going overseas, especially to the States but also to Nicaragua, Mexico and even Haiti.
A further challenge is the dividing of churches and denominations. When there are relational difficulties or personnel conflicts the answer often appears to be to start a new church, denomination or seminary. There were about 50 Protestant denominations before the revolution that have since been officially recognised. Although no others have been accepted since then, there might be twice as many new ones in existence.
A last challenge is what one young pastor explained as idolatry. Of course it is a materialist society (although we aren’t talking third cars, second homes or overseas holidays here!) – understandably, folk just want a better and more stable lifestyle. The trappings of Western consumerism, starting with phones and iPads, are a great desire. However, because of the spiritual vacuum that arises in an atheistic society, many are also turning to various versions of African-based traditional religions such as Santeria.
Reasons to rejoice
If these are just some of the challenges, what are the encouragements? Well, the first is the huge growth of the church in Cuba. Despite state monitoring of leaders, a huge lack of resources and the struggle to keep and pay pastors, the church of Christ continues to grow. When nothing else appears to work, people are turning to Jesus in large numbers. There don’t appear to be non-evangelistic Christians: as many have seen their lives so transformed by the gospel of the Kingdom of God they naturally share their faith with others. In a society that is officially atheistic, without total freedom of worship, this is amazing and the British church has much to learn from it.
Secondly, although many have commented that in the current situation (especially with the break-up of families, as whole families are unlikely to be able to leave Cuban shores together) the traditional Cuban joyfulness has disappeared, Christians still show an amazing gratitude to God in the midst of huge privations. Even when explaining their difficulties, the Christians we met were thankful to God for His provision and His abundant grace.
Thirdly, and this is when the ministry of Cuba for Christ has had a great impact over the years, there is a desire for spiritual growth to be backed up by deeper Biblical and theological education. Cuba still has a very well-educated population (in 2017, 50,000 Cuban doctors working abroad brought $11billion into state coffers – greater than the value of the pre-Covid tourist industry) and the average Christian wants to grow in their knowledge and outworking of Biblical teaching.
Over the years 1,200 students have officially enrolled onto MOCLAM courses and more than 200 finished all 18 courses – the equivalent of traditional lay readership training. Unofficially, the figure is of over 2,000 students, and probably far more. Nearly all courses are taught by Cuban believers. This has given leaders and lay folk across many denominations a solid Biblical and theological grounding which would be the envy of the average UK church.
After much wrangling, an inter-denominational agreement was put together so that talented Seminary teachers have been able to come and study Biblical languages at Tyndale House in the UK, with a native Spanish teacher. Ten students of Hebrew, and half a dozen of Greek, came over on two separate visits to Cambridge. Unusually, friendships were made across denominations and, rarer still, they are teaching in different denominational seminaries. This is enabling Cubans to offer quality postgraduate theological courses to pastors, which include Biblical languages.
We have Cuban teachers training Cuban pastors, which has long-term impact on their teaching, preaching and training of others. The first meeting we were involved in on our trip was in a Bible college in Havana with a dozen highly qualified teachers who have deep relationships and are committed to serving the church inside and outside their own denominations.
Diego’s story
I’d like to finish with a short story about a student Diego (not his real name). He is a 24-year-old fourth-year student of classical music who has finished all 18 courses of MOCLAM and is teaching them to people in his local church. He recently visited a remote coastal region of the island where the majority of the local church are fishermen and farmers, and when he asked how he might serve them was told that they needed Bible teaching more than anything else. Cuba for Christ is happy to give some money for Diego’s transport and provide materials for teaching.
One of the greatest early successes of the revolution was when university students went across Cuba to teach everyone how to read and write, and apparently illiteracy virtually disappeared. Now a missionary disciple of the greatest revolutionary ever, Jesus Christ, is planning to use his holidays to sow Jesus’ ideas (and the whole council of God) to those on the edges of a country that is in itself on the margins of Western society – but right in the middle of God’s plans. Praise the Lord!
This article has also been published at www.latimertrust.org
