We arrived in Cuba just two days after Elian Gonzales, on the same afternoon of a huge government-sponsored rally celebrating Elian’s return after his “kidnapping” by “American imperialists.” Flying in from the Bahamas on a wing and a prayer in a Russian-made jet from the ’60s, I came to this beautiful island country partly fearing, partly hoping. The Cuban businessman sitting next to me on the plane, whose English was much better than my Spanish, wanted to know why Baptist leaders around the world had chosen to come to Cuba at this time. Were we working for the United Nations? Did our meeting have anything to do with “the child Elian?” No, I said, we had no political or ideological ax to grind. We are followers of Jesus Christ, I told him. We are coming to Cuba to encourage our Baptist brothers and sisters and to tell everyone we can that Jesus loves all the people of Cuba.
Arriving in Havana is like stepping back in time. Chevys, Fords and Pontiacs from the ‘40s and ‘50s are everywhere on the highways. There are no McDonalds™, Burger Kings™ or Kentucky Fried Chickens™. Before Castro’s revolution, Havana was a center of decadent pleasure for wealthy Americans who frequented the mafia-controlled casinos. A travel guide from 1928 was titled “When It’s Cocktail Time in Cuba.” No doubt, plenty of sex, sin and sordidness still abounds, but the glitz and glitter are gone. Havana is a city of contrasts — new high-rise hotels next to crumbling buildings and abandoned stores. The new open door to foreign guests like us has created a tourist apartheid. CNN and the Discovery Channel were pumped into our hotel while ordinary Cubans have access only to government propaganda. A taxi driver catering to wealthy visitors can make as much in a day as a Cuban doctor does in a month.
On Sunday morning I was part of a quarter of Baptist World Alliance (BWA) delegates invited to lead worship in a village church on the outskirts of Havana. Two of us were black — Larry Fewell from California and Peter Pinder from the Bahamas, and two of us were white — Doug McHenry, an International Mission Board missionary in Jamaica, and me. Our driver was Ernesto, a smiling young man who wore a T-shirt with a message: “Cuba para Christo,” “Cuba for Christ.” Peter is the BWA area secretary for the Caribbean, and we appointed him the main preacher of the day. When we arrived at the church, the service was already in progress. We were ushered to the podium and instructed by the pastor that we would all have to bring a mini-message.
The small church building was filled to capacity with many standing around the walls. Accompanied by drums and a praise band, one of the sisters led congregational singing. The music was both exuberant and reverent. Instead of clapping and applause, Cuban Baptists wave to express blessing and approval. After Peter’s sermon on “The Greatness and Goodness of God,” there was prolonged waving.
This church had been through difficult times including a period of some two years without a pastor. We heard about financial pressures, intra-congregational disputes and the difficulty of maintaining a clear evangelical witness against the trends of the surrounding culture. Despite setbacks and hard times, though, the church was clearly thriving. Children and young people were hearing the gospel and responding. New believers were coming to faith in Christ. After the service, we talked at length with two men who were not yet believers but who were clearly seeking the Lord. I also talked and prayed with a young woman in the congregation who feels called to be a missionary and will begin theological studies in this fall at one of the three Baptist seminaries in Cuba.
Growth in persecution
What is the future of the church in Cuba? The early church father Tertullian once said that “the blood of martyrs is the seed of the church.” More than 40 years of harassment and persecution has left the church in Cuba stronger and more vibrant than before. In recent years, the overt religious oppression of the ’60s and ’70s has given way to a more relaxed religious policy by the state.
The BWA General Council meeting in Havana this summer was the third in a series of historic events during the past decade. The first was the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent breakup of the Soviet Union. This meant the loss of a six-billion-a-year subsidy for Cuba resulting in economic crisis as well as political isolation for Castro. In response, the ideological noose was loosened somewhat as Cuba moved from being a blatant atheist to a merely secular state. Since 1992 members of the Communist Party have been permitted to belong to churches, a number of Communists have withdrawn from the party in favor of their Christian affiliation.
Another momentous event came in January 1998, when Pope John Paul II visited Cuba. He spoke to hundreds of thousands, including Castro, in an open-air meeting at the Plaza of the Revolution in Havana.
His message was simple and compelling. “Do not fear,” he said. “Open your hearts to Christ. Open your homes to Christ. Open your society to Christ.” Victor Gonzales, general secretary of the Baptist Convention of Western Cuba, indicated that the papal visit created an important opening for all Cuban Christians.
This year, at the invitation of Cuban Baptists, more than 400 world Baptist leaders gathered in Havana to pray, study, preach and encourage one another in the Lord’s work.
Many of our meetings took place in the national Capitol, an elegant building modeled after the United States Capitol in Washington. Two mass rallies drew some 6,000 participants who heard the gospel both sung and preached in Spanish and English. One evening some 40 BWA delegates, accompanied by their Cuban Baptist brothers and sisters, conducted evangelistic meetings and prayer services throughout Havana, some of them in the open air.
This was the first time since the revolution in 1959 that Baptists have been permitted to proclaim the gospel so publicly and so freely in such a manner.
It would be a mistake, however, to assume that churches in Cuba have complete religious freedom, or that being a Christian in Cuba was no longer a risky business. There is no freedom of press in Cuba; Christian schools are not allowed and religious activities are strictly regulated. Only since 1997 have Christians been allowed to celebrate Christmas.
Yet the winds of change are clearly blowing. In His providence, God may well use this meeting of Baptist Christians from around the world to usher in a floodtide of renewal and evangelization for all of Cuba.
‘Power to change Cuba’
Billy Kim, president of BWA, met personally with Fidel Castro and presented to him an inscribed copy of the Holy Bible. He also conveyed a message to the aging revolutionary leader: “Please read this book, Mr. President.” It has the power to change Cuba.” The slogans of the Cuban Revolution are plastered everywhere on signs around Havana: “We believe in the Revolution.” “Socialism or Death.” But such words have more bluster than bite: they are reminders of a fading past not harbingers of a new day.
In the 16th century, the Swiss reformer Huldrych Zwingli said: “The Word of God will persist as surely as the Rhine follows its course. One can perhaps dam it up for awhile, but it is impossible to stop it.” In Cuba, we saw a church that wouldn’t die, a church that Castro couldn’t kill. The banner across the front of Havana’s Calvary Baptist Church tells us why: “Jesus Christ, forever, yes!”
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