Skip to main content

Blessing in Disguise? Why Thawing US Relations Inspires Hope in Cuban Believers

Share This article

President Barack Obama's historic trip to Cuba came at a time of renewed optimism in the Cuban Church.

The fast-growing Church is enjoying some relaxed restrictions and is hoping for fruitful partnerships with U.S. churches.

Thousands of Cubans worshipped recently in a two-night open-air rally in Santiago, Cuba's second largest city. The total attendance for the Santiago location and another in Havana was 25,000.

Even more remarkable? The Cuban government allowed it.

In recent months, the government has increased its arrests of political dissidents, so organizer Steve Cordon, of the group Worship 24-7, considers these events a miracle.

"You have to do everything literally by faith because you're not sure if they are going to approve or not the visas, the permissions for the places and anything can happen," Cordon told CBN News.

What did happen was an outpouring of the Spirit as people worshipped and listened to teaching. More than 1,400 people came forward to give their lives to Christ.

"When we see so many people giving their lives to Jesus, that's the first and main fruit," Cordon said.

Worship 24-7, which sponsored the event, also distributed 30,000 Bibles -- something that is so important in a country where they are not easily found.

Cordon says believers are planning to launch a small Christian magazine and Christian music festival.

He's encouraged to see a new generation with new ideas for what can be accomplished in a country where the Church has suffered so much for decades.

"I see that they are starting dreaming, that there's new hope, that they are getting tools, they are being empowered," Cordon said.

Veteran missionaries say Cuban believers are also cautiously optimistic about working with American churches, thanks to the easing of U.S. travel restrictions.

"They would really love to have church-to-church partnerships where people could come down and help them start agricultural projects and other micro-businesses that would allow them not only to meet their own expenses, but also to do the community outreach that they're dreaming of doing," explained Brian Stewart, director of ACTION Cuba.

Stewart and other missionaries caution that Americans should approach Cuban churches with great respect.

In many ways, it's the Cuban Church that could teach the American Church - given it's a global expert on church-planting and evangelism in the midst of extreme hardship.

Share This article

About The Author

Heather
Sells

Heather Sells covers wide-ranging stories for CBN News that include religious liberty, ministry trends, immigration, and education. She’s known for telling personal stories that capture the issues of the day, from the border sheriff who rescues migrants in the desert to the parents struggling with a child that identifies as transgender. In the last year, she has reported on immigration at the Texas border, from Washington, D.C., in advance of the Dobbs abortion case, at crisis pregnancy centers in Massachusetts, and on sexual abuse reform at the annual Southern Baptist meeting in Anaheim