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.