The presence of Baptists on the island of Cuba can be traced back to the late 1800s. When Cuban patriots were exiled to the United States during the Ten Years’ War of independence from Spain, many of them became Baptists.
According to Francisco “Paco” Rhodes, director of Baptist studies at the ecumenical Evangelical Seminary in Matanzas, Cuba, and director for theological education in the Fraternity of Baptist Churches in Cuba, the first Baptists were baptized on the beach in Havana at night in 1886.
The Southern Baptist Convention, as early as 1892, turned its attention to Cuba. The Home Mission Board Report of that year observed that “the whole island is open to the gospel and in the name of our Lord we should go up and possess the land.” Four years later, the Home Mission Board Report declared that “should the present struggle (with Spain) result in the freedom of Cuba, there will be presented such an opportunity for the extension of our Baptist faith as never has been furnished by any nation.” Southern Baptists sought religious freedom with the disestablishment of the Catholic church, and Baptists were the only Protestants in Cuba at the time. They hoped that they “might, with the blessings of God sweep over (Cuba) and win it for the Master.”
Southern Baptists sent C.R. Daniel to Cuba in 1901, and in 1905 he was a key figure in organizing the Baptist Convention of Western Cuba. Other Baptists from America also formed organizations, and the divisions among U.S. Baptists were brought to Cuba by the Baptist missionaries. Southern Baptists, through the Home Mission Board, occupied western Cuba. The eastern part was taken by the Northern Baptists, forming the Baptist Convention of Eastern Cuba (organized in 1905). Other Baptist organizations in Cuba are the Free Will Baptist Convention of Cuba (organized in 1943), and the Fraternity of Baptist Churches of Cuba (organized in 1989).
The Revolution of 1959 resulted in a crisis for Cuban Baptists. Many Baptist pastors and church members, especially of western churches, left for exile in Florida. The 1970s brought more relaxed relations between the church and state in Cuba, and a new group of believers began to emerge in Cuba.
These new believers, faced with harsh political and social circumstances, poverty and hunger, were forced to practice their religion with little support from the outside world, and this created a challenge for them and for Christian workers from other countries trying to support them. The churches, with many of their young people going into exile, focused on humanitarian work, supplying medicine and food to communities. Baptist workers tried to provide the Christian biblical and theological background for enthusiastic new Christians who attended churches in unprecedented numbers in the 1990s.
As Paul Jeffrey observed in his 1999 article in The Christian Century, as “one of the last socialist republics, Cuba has become a seller’s market for those who offer meaning. … Yesterday’s (communist) ideological paradigm is morally bankrupt, and the church has been quick to step into the gap.” He also notes that it isn’t simply the result of governmental changes, such as the changing of the description of the state from “atheistic” to “secular,” that has resulted in the growth of the church in Cuba. “Churches have grown,” he says, “not because of what the government has done, but because of the hard work of faithful Christians trying to live out the gospel.”
These faithful Cuban Christians have become experts at improvising. The Church in Cuba has survived in spite of great obstacles. During the growth of the 1990s, many new places of worship were opened in unusual locations, such as garages and yards.
House churches continue to thrive today, growing, by some estimates, to between 10,000 and 15,000 in 2005. Each house church consists of 30 to 200 members meeting regularly. These churches must register with the Cuban government, but the process is long and difficult and many meet illegally. The International Religious Freedom Report 2007 from the U.S. State Department cites that, of the 1,500 Baptist house churches in western Cuba, no more than 20 had been legalized as of April 2005.
According to the Florida Baptist Witness, “Florida Baptists have spiritually journeyed with Baptists in Cuba through the ministry of an ongoing partnership since 1997.” These volunteers have partnered with many congregations in Cuba. They have conducted Vacation Bible Schools, trained ministers, and organized revivals and reconstruction projects.
When John Sullivan, executive director-treasurer of the Florida Baptist Convention, visited Cuba several years ago, he observed, “the Cubans do so much with so little.” The partnerships Cubans have formed with U.S. Baptists have spread the gospel in their country.
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