There’s a revival going on in Cuba right now—and your giving is helping fan the flame!

One of the things I love about my job is that I get to go and see first-hand what God is doing in the world. I have devoted many years of my life to the study of world Christianity at the academic level, but there is nothing like actually seeing what you have been reading about! As Gandalf said to Bilbo in The Hobbit (film edition): “The world is not in your books and maps. It’s out there.”

And “out there” revival is happening in Cuba. Here is the short version. In the 1990s, Castro decided to allow Christians to build “house churches.” It was a reversal of his decades-long commitment to atheism. It may have been a political move designed to make the government look “friendly” toward religion while keeping religion under control and out of sight. In houses.

But then the Spirit came blowing in like He did in Acts 2 and it confounded everyone. The church began to grow—and it grew rapidly.

When I was there recently, I asked a Cuban church leader what happens when a house church runs out of room. He looked at me with a smile and said, “We multiply.” And that is how it is happening. It’s pretty amazing. And even historians are rewriting the textbooks on Christianity in Cuba.

I’ve read the books and seen the maps—but it was inspiring to go “out there” and see it! “The devil is God’s devil,” Luther once quipped provocatively. By it he meant that the Almighty Sovereign of the world takes Satan’s evil schemes and turns them around for good. He’s that amazing.

Where does Global Action come in? We have been asked to help educate the house-church pastors because they cannot keep up with the demand. That’s how we are fanning the flame. And your sacrificial giving is making it happen. Enjoy the stories below. Let them encourage you. God is at work in the world!

In Christ,

Lionel Young

Executive Vice President

Connecting Passion with Knowledge

Veronica and Rafael (names changed for security purposes) live in the eastern side of Cuba where they are part of an isolated rural church family. While they had spent years within the church, reading their Bibles, and working in the secular workforce as professionals, they longed for tools to equip them to serve more effectively as church leaders.

“We need to be prepared, we’ve never taken a class. We’ve been part of the church for a long time, but we have no training,” the two shared.

One of their pastors serves as an instructor in the Global Action Foundations program. He noticed their influence in their church community and their sincerity in their love for God. “The Lord wants to use you!” he encouraged them. Taking his encouragement to heart, they enrolled in the Global Action programme and began deepening their understanding of the Bible and ministry practices.

Now having graduated in October of 2023, Global Action’s Director of the Caribbean commented that “before they had only their hands, the desire…, but now they have the tools. They are equipped in principles about the Bible, how to interpret the text, how to prepare a sermon, how to prepare a Bible study, and tools to lead the church.”

Veronica still continues her work as a lawyer in Cuba, and both are actively leading their church in a remote one-road village. As Director Yuniel Cruz observes: “This is not a road anyone wants to drive. It’s rough terrain through a desert. The people are farmers, there is no other church anywhere nearby. There is no economic thriving. But this is how they are reaching our people. They are professionals in the secular world, but they embrace God’s calling.”

Rafael and Veronica celebrate their milestone accomplishment of completing the 9-month Foundations course with Global Action. While we thank God for the projected 385 Global Action graduates in Cuba this year, hundreds more are on waiting lists for the opportunity to be equipped.

Buildings in remote parts of Cuba are constructed using traditional techniques and materials from Royal Palm trees. Thatched leaves create the roof and palm wood provides structure, such as in this house church. Despite a government hostile to church planting, the body of Christ in Cuba is growing by about 385,000 new believers per year. These new followers of Christ each desperately need leaders equipped in the Word of God.

Shepherding the Flock

What is the greatest need of the church in Cuba?

“Their greatest need is hope,” Global Action Director of the Caribbean, Yuniel Cruz, states simply. While Cubans are coming to faith in droves, “the people are living in desperation and poverty, sickness, no hospital, limited medicine. The church is an answer for many people who need it. The church also is a place for joy, to hear and see something different than bleakness around them. Church offers programming for children and elderly, stocking basic medicine. The church is the answer for many of these needs.”

The churches where Global Action has equipped leaders are intentional to take care and provide for not only physical needs, but also spiritual needs. The church has the good news for people living in isolation and poverty: His name is Jesus Christ.

The explosive church growth in Cuba urgently necessitates trained leaders.

The ABCs at the heart of Global Action’s programme are to be accessible, biblical, and contextual. We equip leaders with no access to theological training so that they can be powerful ministers of the gospel in their own communities. These indigenous shepherds know their own flocks, and with your support they are able to feed and guide their flocks in faithful Christlikeness.