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Cover Story

Cuba for Christ—Ahora!

The Communist island's improbable revival is 15 years old and growing stronger.

Take a Friday night walk through Havana's Parque G to see up close how much Cuba needs Christ. By day, the downtown park offers a pleasant stroll along a wide, tree-lined boulevard down to the gulf coastline. By night, Parque G becomes a murky zone where Cuban teens, dressed somewhere between hipsters and goths, cluster to smoke, drink, and exchange drugs. Young couples hide in the shadows of bushes as musicians hold jam sessions under streetlamps.

But in dramatic contrast to the surrounding activity, at 1 A.M. 25 young Cuban Christians form a circle to pray. Holding hands, they shout forceful prayers toward heaven for the salvation of Cuba. Across the intersection, a uniformed police squad watches with interest, but does nothing to stop their outreach.

The youth belong to Alcance Victoria, an evangelical Cuban church formed in 2003 based on the inner-city models of evangelist Nicky Cruz and Victory Outreach, an international ministry. Most of the youth are new believers and recovering drug addicts thanks to the church's weekly evangelism walks.

"Too many churches live their faith inside their walls, when the church needs to be here in the street," says dreadlocked evangelist Obeda, a former street kid whose brilliant white grin contrasts with his ebony skin. "We're out stealing souls from the Devil."

Speaking enthusiastically with visiting Christians, the teens point to each other along the organic human chain of who brought who to faith in Christ. Their style is direct—"Hi, I'm a Christian, and I'd like to tell you about Jesus"—and brings results. The church is 500 strong, and leaders hope to add another 500 by year's end.

Their leader, Manuelito, shows no fear of arrest. He says Havana police need their help in confronting the recent wave of street drug abuse. "If I wasn't afraid when I was doing drugs in this very park," he says, "why would I be afraid now that I have the truth?"

The edgy street evangelism in Cuba's capital reveals that Western perceptions about Cuban Christianity seem woefully outdated.

"Here in Cuba the church is alive, growing, faithful, and active, persevering through difficulty," asserts a prominent evangelical leader. "We are working inside Cuba now, and someday we will join everyone else in the missionary activity of the world."

Since the 1959 Revolution, Castro's Communist government has placed numerous restrictions on religious expression in Cuba—a reality illustrated by most sources' requests for anonymity (see "More Freedom But Not Free," page 28). Yet the Cuban church is thriving despite its limitations, and its leaders ask that their church not be used as a geopolitical pawn. "We are part of the body of Christ in the world, yet people see us only with political eyes," said one leading Cuban evangelical. "To those people we say: 'Come and see.' "

Christianity Today traveled throughout the island from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. The journalistic Holy Week pilgrimage revealed a surprisingly healthy church with a new generation of young pastors boldly pushing old boundaries. Their current evangelistic zeal is best summed up in the recent modification of a common evangelical rallying cry: from "Cuba para Cristo" to "Cuba para Cristo—ahora." Cuba for Christ—now.

Joy In His Presence

Since the 1990s, major changes have buffeted Cuba's 11.4 million people. After the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba's heavily subsidized economy collapsed, causing Cuba's "Special Period" of economic crisis, famine, and more than a decade of hardship.


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Comments

Displaying 1–3 of 19 comments

APOSTLE PRINCESS JENNIFER LEE

February 08, 2013  2:12pm

I have read all the Postings and I will like someone to please tell me how to connect with some Pastors in Cuba. I will like to go there to do a medical Mission with me team. We will be shipping bibles and basic human necessities to help and demonstrate the love of Christ. Please kindly let me know how we can connect with the Laborers in that country to be a blessing to them. Dr Lee

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Nancy Coble

July 16, 2009  6:06pm

Thank you for sharing the "Good News" of the young people of Cuba. They will be wonderful witnesses for Jesus. I had the privilege to visit Cuba a couple of times recently and will never forget the wonderful people we met at Varadera Presbyterian Church. Viva Cuba!

LG

July 15, 2009  5:48pm

This article is really wonderful. I grew up in Cuba and experienced firsthand the oppression for being a Christian. Some Sundays schools had a mandatory "military training" for kids. I remember that the teacher stood me in front of the whole class and made fun of me becuase I chose to go to church instead of going to military training. I went to the next school training where they would teach us to use bb guns to denfend againt the US (in elementary school). My pastor was put in jail and abused. The goverment had treat it the people and christians badly, but God has always being faithful. The early church was also persecuted, people made fun of them, but God's Word continued to spread. Let's spread the Word!!!

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