I recently travelled to Cuba on a mission trip.  I wrote a 4-part report on the trip that was first published in The Yazoo Herald that I am now reposting on my blog.  This is part four.

The Church is strong in the communist country of Cuba. In this final report on my trip to Cuba I want to focus on the revival happening among the Baptist churches in Cuba (my only experience. There are many other strong Christian denominations present in Cuba.) and the unique polity that guides the Baptist Convention of Eastern Cuba. I travelled to Cuba as a guest of the First Baptist Church of Jatibonico and spent the week working out of their building in the center of the island. First Baptist is a radically unusual church in Cuba. In Cuba it is illegal to build a church/temple but not illegal to worship in one’s home, so churches meet in the pastor’s home that has been renovated to include
a place in which to worship. The average church is approximately 25 members and most of the buildings can squeeze in between 30-50 people. However, First Baptist operates out of a large temple with an average worship attendance in the low 200’s each week. They are able to have a large, dedicated temple because the church existed before the revolution and essentially was grandfathered in.
Their unusual large size offers many opportunities to support missions in their region. First Baptist hosts an extension center for the Santiago Baptist Seminary and has dedicated space for classrooms and student dorms (I spent my week teaching a class of 5 seminarians). They are also approximately 50 missions or church plants sent out by this church alone which are graphically represented by thumbtacks on a map of the island in the pastor’s office. It was inspiring to teach a class in that room each day and consistently see the expanding influence of a church that follows the example set forward in the book of Acts.

In Cuba this planting of new churches and missions is the norm. I visited in churches as small as 20 people that had two or more
missions they had started in other areas or villages. Their polity dictates that each sending church is responsible for the finances of the missions (build
ing costs and missionary salaries) until the missions become self-sustaining churches. The expense of these missions can
be great,and First Baptist owns a 35-acre farm from which they sell produce to support the missions for which they are responsible.

Their financing is very different than the Baptist church here. On a wall inside the church is a series of numbered slots that represent the families in the church. Each slot holds an envelope on which is recorded the monthly tithes and gifts to the three annual offerings given by that family. The church administrator checks the envelopes and records the tithes of the membership, supposedly confronting families that fall behind in their giving. Yet they also take up an offering in the worship services. This offering is considered a gift above and beyond the tithe, and the plates were full of CUC’s after each service I attended. Remembering that each worker only makes $20 CUC’s a month and a tithe would be $2 CUC’s, it is amazing that there is anything left to give in the service. Yet there is, and their churches are planting new churches every year, and a revival is breaking out across the country. I know a bunch of us preachers who could use this story as a sermon illustration!

Two other unique things I would like to share about these Cuban Christians. First, although Baptist, their convention polity carries hints of Methodism in that the convention has great influence over the placement of pastors and missionaries. While it seems clear that pastors have the final say on moving to another church, I know my friend moved to Jatibonico at the request of the convention. And the convention, through the established churches, has influence over where the missionaries serve and where new missions are started. There is much more top-down authority than us Southern Baptists would be used to or even comfortable with. The second unique thing is their Baptism practices. After someone accepts Christ they will go through weeks, sometimes months of extensive teaching and discipleship before being baptized and granted membership in a church. I learned that the convention assesses and 30 peso tithe per year for each member of a church, so there is a financial reason for delaying membership. But when I talk to the people, their concern focuses exclusively on verifying the sincerity of a person’s conversion, even stating that they wait to see evidence of Christ’s influence in a person’s life before considering them for baptism. This is a very different process than us, and although a bit legalistic for my tastes, provides a stark lesson about the importance and responsibilities of membership that many of our American churches should learn.

The bottom line is that the Cuban Baptist Church seems radically committed to following Christ and incredibly intentional in their efforts to grow the Kingdom of God in their country. While many of the differences in our two churches is a result of culture and their ways would not necessarily work in our society, the sacrifice and intentionality of this group of people who have nothing and give everything for the Kingdom of God is both staggeringly embarrassing and inspiring in contrast to an extravagantly wealthy American church that suffers from a terrible tendency towards stinginess. I am inspired by these brothers and sisters and hope that as more members of Black Jack travel to Cuba that this inspiration will spread across our great churches and the Kingdom of God will grow in Yazoo County as a result.

I recently travelled to Cuba on a mission trip.  I wrote a 4-part report on the trip that was first published in The Yazoo Herald that I am now reposting on my blog.  This is part three of four.

As mentioned in a previous installment, the Cubans live in what I understand to be a completely socialist environment. All of the economy and industry is owned by the government (factories,
grocery stores, etc) and all human services such as transportation and healthcare are government services. Since the government owns most jobs, most Cubans are employed by the government.
Their salaries range from $10-$20 per month (even doctors make $20 a month) and each citizen is issued a ration card that allows them to purchase limited basic food supplies from the government at a subsidized price. The Cubans have two currencies: the peso and the Cuban Unit of Currency (CUC). They are paid in CUC which is almost a 1-to-1 equivalent to the US dollar. Pesos are used to purchase ration card food and othe
r small purchases, while the CUC is used for most everything else. You would assume that the economics of the country would dictate that prices reflect the income of the typical citizen but that is not necessarily true. My pastor friend recently purchased a 1976 Fiat that cost $11,000 (with help from an American) and Black Jack helped a farmer purchase a tractor plow for approximately $1700. One of my translators must travel from her town to an adjacent town once a month for medical treatment for her son’s cleft pallet. To rent a car for the round trip cost her $30. While obviously there is a black market for purchasing goods and an underground process whereby citizens are able to make more money, it became clear to me that the prices of their economy do not match their incomes, and that makes life very difficult.

I’m typing this sitting at a coffee shop drinking a $2 cup of joe and am struck that this source of caffeine represents 10% of my friends’ monthly incomes back in Cuba. And I’ll probably have another cup. The thought is striking because I realize how much we wealthy Americans in our abundance can radically change the lives of people in Cuba with what to us often seems like excess change. The amount I spend to feed my family at McDonalds is the same amount my friends in Cuba live off of for an entire month. While most of us would agree that throwing money at a problem rarely fixes the problem, it is also clear that the sharing of our wealth with Cuban families can be life-changing. We hired our translators at $10 a day and just by our presence in the country were able to offer them three months of income for the cost of a good steak dinner.

I would be remiss to not use this opportunity to give you a chance to help. I have made long-term relationships in Cuba and Black Jack Baptist Church is committing to continually support the Cuban churches. We are creating a fund to be used to purchase items they need which we can bring from the United States and also cash to give to them while we are there. You can be a part of that by sending gifts to Black Jack Baptist Church and designating them for Cuba. You have my assurances that it will be used to benefit the people and the work of the Church in Cuba.

I recently travelled to Cuba on a mission trip.  I wrote a 4-part report on the trip that was first published in The Yazoo Herald that I am now reposting on my blog.  This is part two of four.

The wonderful and gracious Cuban people (as mentioned in a previous installment) are so despite living in what I understand to be a completely socialist environment. All industry is owned by the government. So are most of the retail outlets. Healthcare is completely socialized and transportation is a subsidized service of the government (most Cubans do not own a vehicle and use buses to travel). The question is, “What do the Cubans think about their government?”

I get the feeling I could travel to Cuba for years and never be able to answer this question because they do not discuss the government in public. Our friends are reluctant to answer questions regarding the government, and even when they say the name of Fidel in the privacy of their own home they lean in and say it in a whisper. It is common knowledge that on every block in every city there is an agent of the government who listens and reports on the actions and conversations of their neighbors. It is dangerous to discuss politics because you never know who is listening, and it seems futile because they have no input in their government’s practices. Why talk about what you cannot change?
And while things are better, the history of the revolution and the government’s Soviet-inspired intrusions are fresh on the people’s minds. I learned of an incident in 1972 where the government unilaterally arrested all the protestant pastors in the country, taking them from their homes in the night and holding them without charges or information to the families. After two years of demonstrations by the people (and the churches’ refusal to stop worshipping even without their pastors) the government eventually released the pastors with no explanation or compensation. I met two pastors who experienced this round-up, and while they are not afraid, that threat always looms on the horizon.

However, things are better because Raul has loosened some restrictions. Just in the last few years the Cubans have been allowed to open their own businesses or cafés out of their homes. It’s not industry, but in a small way the people can now influence their own destinies. Access to the Internet has opened them to new ideas and to see how the rest of the world lives. And I have the strong impression that just the presence of Americans gives the people great encouragement. But while there is apparent optimism that things are changing in their country the people still live under an unspoken blanket of fear because they know the government can flex its muscles at any time and that they have no recourse. It is very difficult for the Cuban people to dream about the future like we Americans do because their future is so much more uncertain.

Again I am excited about the opening of relationships between our two countries because our presence in their country and the experiences we bring with us make it more difficult for the government to restrict freedoms that the people now know are possible. And in the shadow of our divisive election, we can learn from them too. Although we can speak into our government processes (and should, constantly) we can learn from them that the movements of our government do not have to dictate the outcomes of our lives or the joy with which we live them. It amazes me to see the good lives the Cubans have made for themselves despite the political environment in which they live. We can learn something here.

I recently travelled to Cuba on a mission trip.  I wrote a 4-part report on the trip that was first published in The Yazoo Herald that I am now reposting on my blog.

Cuba looks exactly what you expect a Caribbean country to look like. We flew in on a big, modern Airbus and landed at an airport in Santa Clara that had more grass than concrete. I noticed the late-era Soviet attack helicopters parked along the sides of the tarmac while we taxied before disembarking into a concrete airport staffed by mostly military customs agents. It was an unusual mix of communist military personnel and American airline agents. After retrieving our luggage from the only baggage claim (makes Jackson Airport look huge!) we stepped into a different world outside. The land is beautiful and flush with tall palm trees and flowering vegetation that is blooming in January. The countryside has a gentle roll to it and mountains loom in the distance of almost every view.

But it is the structures and vehicles that truly feel Caribbean. Almost every building is built from concrete, presumably because I never saw an oak or pine tree anywhere. And the vehicles are exactly like you’ve seen in the movies. The streets are mixed with 1950’s American sedans, bicycles, horse-drawn carriages, modern electric scooters, and the occasional Mercedes, Lexus, and Chinese-made tour bus. It is a striking comparison to see an ultra-modern 55-passenger bus slo
wing down as it comes in behind a horse-drawn carriage. The mix of old and new is everywhere. One village I visited still had no running water, and each block had a hand-pump well from which the families would draw their water for the day. On the other
hand, the audio/visual guy from the church wore an Apple Watch on his wrist from which he often made phone calls. And the most striking thing is that there seems to be no jealously or animosity over the imbalance. We could learn a lot from them.

The people are the most hospitable people I have ever met, and frankly we could learn from this part of their culture too. Our southern hospitality dictates that we wave and say hello to strangers on the street, which they rarely do. However, their Cuban hospitality dictates that they invite you into their home and offer you coffee (This coffee is served in what I call a coffee shot-glass. It is piping hot and includes more sugar than actual coffee.). They are incredibly hospitable, and we often joked with our translators that if we knocked on doors like they did we’d most likely be the targets of a shotgun.
Also, they are extremely hard workers! I typically went to bed about 11:00pm each night and my Cuban hosts were still awake. When I awoke at 6:00am the next morning coffee was served and breakfast was already on the way. They seem to never sleep, and they work hard each day. Even on Saturday as we visited neighbors the families would be busy cleaning their homes and doing laundry. I am confident that the kitchen in our home got mopped 2-3 times a day, each time with a towel attached to the end of a stick. The Cubans are an impeccably clean and hygienic people.
The bottom line is that I am impressed with the people of Cuba. They have a high work ethic that thrives despite the oppressive environment in which they are forced to live (next installment). They are gracious and kind, and live in a beautiful part of God’s creation. Meeting the people there makes me extremely excited about the opening of relationships between our two countries. Not only because our wealth and experiences can benefit their lives, but also because we can learn from their culture and from their church.