wfn.org | Methodist Cuban church grows as it overcomes challenges

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

April 27, 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York      {256}

NOTE: This story is accompanied by a sidebar, UMNS #257.

STAMFORD, Conn. (UMNS) - When the Rev. Humberto Fuentes "received the
call" to become a Methodist pastor in Cuba, his country was on the brink
of revolution.

In 1959, 60 Cuban-born pastors and some 40 U.S. missionaries were
serving more than 10,000 official members in 108 churches. Methodists
also had created dozens of schools and clinics, set up an agricultural
center and established the first Protestant university on the island.

By 1961, the new government led by Fidel Castro had taken over the
church's schools and other social programs. The missionaries had been
asked to leave, and many Cuban pastors followed.

But Fuentes and other Methodists who stayed kept the church going.
Today, with the relaxation of anti-religious practices by the government
and other changes in Cuba, the church has seen considerable growth,
particularly among young people. It has added gatherings in more than
200 "house churches" to its original 108 congregations.

During its April 20-23 meeting here, the United Methodist Board of
Global Ministries added its support by approving nearly $1 million in
grants for the Methodist Church in Cuba. A significant chunk of that
money will be used to repair the crumbling church infrastructure.

Although the board has assisted the Cuban church in a variety of ways in
the past, it had not recognized the priority of the repair work,
according to the Rev. Michael Rivas, a board deputy general secretary
and Cuban American.

"What we did not seem to appreciate was the fact that in Cuba, because
of government policies, we could not hold religious activities of any
kind outside of church buildings," he told board directors. "This was a
reality peculiar to the Cuban context, but we couldn't adapt our
policies to accommodate that reality."

The board has applied for a U.S. Treasury Department license to help
provide assistance to the Cuban church. In addition to the repair work,
grant money will be used to provide small hard-currency subsidies to
pastors, help mission partnerships and exchanges, and provide leadership
development and training. "They have over 100 candidates for the
ministry," Rivas noted.

Fuentes, associate pastor of La Trinidad Methodist Church in Havana,
serves a mixed-race, poor neighborhood plagued by problems such as
prostitution and alcoholism. Some of the prostitutes, he added, had left
professional careers in order to earn hard currency through the skin
trade.

The young people who come to his services have lost their self-esteem
but have heard that the church has a message of hope to give, he said.

"The challenge of the Cuban churches is not evangelization," Fuentes
said, adding that people are coming to services on their own. "The
challenge is the formation of these persons ...who have the desire to be
helped."

Tension has existed between the older generation of longtime Methodists
and the young newcomers, but those difficulties are being worked out.

Now, according to Fuentes, "we have a beautiful church where the
children, the youth and the adults share the faith of Jesus Christ."

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/