From the January-April 2011 Issue
Visit to Cuba
Jose and Anneke de Segovia
Church group in CubaIn September 2010 José de Segovia paid a visit to Cuba at the invitation of the Christian Reformed Church on the island. He had been asked to give an intensive course on the biblical doctrine of man at their Seminary and also to preach in several churches.
Cuba has always been a special country for the Spaniards. Not only was it our last colony, but until this present day many of the island’s inhabitants have family ties with people from Galicia and the Canary Islands. My own great-grandfather lived on the island, while serving in the Spanish Army, before he became Dean of the Department of Medicine at the University of Salamanca. That’s why so much of the furniture with which I grew up was originally Cuban.
When I went to the Protestant school in Madrid during the sixties and seventies, almost half of the children were Cuban, because Castro already had special relations with Spain in the days of General Franco and from time to time they allowed quite a few citizens to go to Spain, where they would wait for a visa to enter the United States. Spanish right-wing leaders, such as Manuel Fraga, were on good terms with the regime, in spite of their great ideological differences. And in the present day the dissidents who are able to leave the island do also find their place in Madrid, through a special agreement between Cuba and the Spanish government, together with the Roman Catholic Church.
So, in a sense, a Spaniard doesn’t feel like a stranger in Cuba. Though, on the other hand, the situation couldn’t be more different. There are cultural links, but socially and politically, as well as economically, these are two separate worlds.
Spanish evangelicals have been visiting the island quite extensively for several years now, bringing help of all kinds to the many churches that are there. However, up to now I hadn’t had the opportunity to go to Cuba. It has been a privilege to visit churches and meet believers with whom I share the same faith in the rediscovered truths of the Reformation of the sixteenth century. As a curiosity, attached to this article is a picture of myself next to the monument of John Calvin in La Havana.
The Cuban Church
The Christian Reformed Church in Cuba came into existence in the fifties through a North-American missionary married to a Cuban pastor from Jagüey Grande. My personal impression, after reading the denomination’s history and talking to some of its pastors, is that it isn’t a church born from a U.S. missionary effort, but there are links established with several pastors and congregations already in existence, that adopt the model and the doctrine of this American denomination of Dutch origin.
The course I taught was about biblical anthropology. They themselves had asked me for this subject. The students were basically pastors; some not so young. These brethren had a very clear understanding of all the Reformed doctrines, and the liberal tendencies shown by the North American denomination are almost imperceptible in the Cuban church. For that matter, they are very different from the Presbyterians who also have their base in Matanzas, and with whom it appears they have never had any relations.
I was also invited to preach in the ‘mother-church’ of this denomination in Jagüey Grande. They have an old building from before the revolution, which was broken into, as seems to happen regularly. They only took a recorder. The service was a bit less formal than we are used to in Spanish Reformed circles, but it showed a great spiritual vitality.
The timetable was very intensive, as I had to teach from nine in the morning till five in the afternoon. As for the conditions of the accommodation, I can’t really recommend it, but I survived in spite of the cockroaches that even climb on the bed on which you’re sleeping. All these discomforts, nevertheless, are made up for by the affection and gratitude that I received from these brethren.
El Cotorro
Towards the end of the nineties there emerged two churches in La Havana, separated from the Baptist Union because of their Reformed convictions. One of these is being supported by a large church in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) that had come to this same doctrine, adopting the London Baptist Confession of 1689. This church is in the village of El Cotorro. They showed a special interest in receiving literature and asked a lot of questions about the churches in Spain.
San Antonio de Los Baños
The church where I preached on two Sundays, San Antonio de Los Baños, doesn’t get any support from abroad and the conditions of their meeting place are not appropriate. They use the home of the deacon, but as the congregation is growing they no longer have enough room. They would like to build a small hall behind the house, but they haven’t the money for the materials yet.
I talked a lot with the pastor, who was forced to find a secular job in order to support his family. He seemed to me someone well informed about the situation of the Cuban churches and the Reformed doctrines. He appreciates the literature very much and is busy training other men from the congregation. Their teaching in the Sunday school, which is held before the morning service, is very good. We would like to help this church with its project of building a better meeting place.
Student work
During my stay in Jagüey, I had the opportunity to meet up twice with a staff worker of the student movement Univida. This independent group is active in the principal universities of Cuba with a biblical and Christ-centred message. Although in legal matters it uses the cover of the Methodist Church, it is clearly an interdenominational association.
There was a special interest in inviting me to speak at the main conference which the movement will be organizing in February 2011. I told him that this won’t be possible, but if they want me to come the following year, I’ll need the support of some foreign mission. His wish is that I lecture on some subject of apologetics, about which I’m used to speaking and writing for Spanish students. The organization seems to be quite responsible and there is no doubt that the Lord has blessed them greatly these last years.