Havana, Cuba …. [Ray Dabrowski/ANN]
On June 5, the history of Seventh-day Adventism in Cuba added yet another record. More than 2,500 participants of the celebration of their church’s centennial will remember it as the second-hottest day in the recorded history of temperature in Havana. There was standing room only in the 39 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit), humid weather, with every window, entrance, and step leading to a platform filled with joyous celebrants from throughout the island.
The Vibora Church, in a Havana suburb, was overflowing. According to the organizers, the Friday night worship service was attended by a different group of believers, mostly from the local churches, while the Sabbath celebrations were made available to church members from the country’s other regions.
The compactness of the Vibora Church, which seats 1,300, was not enough for the more than 2,500 participants on each day of the “great weekend,” as one young attendee remarked. The anticipated celebrations in a sports arena did not materialize, and last-minute change of plans created a challenge for church leaders.
What for the local church was a centennial, the year 2004 is also the tenth anniversary of Maranatha Volunteers International involvement in church mission in Cuba. “They are accustomed to an overflow attendance,” remarked Don Noble, president of Maranatha, an Adventist lay organization involved with church constructions and refurbishment.
According to Daniel Fontaine, president of the Adventist Church in Cuba, as many as 80 percent to 90 percent of church members in Cuba worship in church buildings built or refurbished by Maranatha. The organization will be known as the “Builders of the Seminary,” an educational center in the outskirts of Havana responsible for theological training and other educational programs for Seventh-day Adventists in Cuba.
In a written message sent for the centennial, Pastor Jan Paulsen, president of the world church, encouraged the Cuban believers, “Let your hearts and minds be filled with sure knowledge of Christ’s imminent return and may your lives continue to reflect that knowledge.” He congratulated the church on its milestone, and added, “I want to encourage you to keep trusting in our Savior, Jesus Christ.”
Paulsen added, “When the gospel is preached in your country, may it be spoken in the demonstration of the Spirit and with power.”
“It’s amazing what God allowed to happen in Cuba in the last decade or so,” commented Don Noble. “We were but an instrument to assist in the church’s witnessing ability. Now, record numbers are attending the churches.
“It’s amazing what a coat of paint would do for the people. It was like a bit of fresh air and the churches got filled, the believers got excited. As for us, we did a small piece of helping the church be a center of hope for the people,” Noble added.
After the centennial celebration, Noble, accompanied by his wife, Laura, visited the latest project, known to the Maranatha community as the “Tem Suárez Memorial Church” in Vertientes, near Camaguey, some 500 kilometers east of Havana. The new church construction on the main avenue of the town center will seat 200 people and is scheduled for dedication in November.
Suárez, who died last year, will be remembered as a Cuban émigré who wished to contribute to a “spiritual difference in the lives of my people.” His family and friends at Maranatha recall his words: “The spiritual life of my people is more important that other, external things.” He was an emigrant with a difference, a lone voice among many others, said one Maranatha supporter who is active in Cuban church building projects.
Israel Leito, who led a church delegation representing the Inter-American region, which included church leaders and educators from Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Mexico, spoke of his pride in seeing the Cuban Adventists “as an example of faithfulness and dedication to the mission of the church.
“Yes, 100 years is a milestone for us,” Leito told Adventist News Network. It was the “staying power of the church [that] gave an example of longsuffering, faithfulness and a very careful social management in not too a friendly environment, and still remaining the character of the church of God.”
As a personal reflection, Leito was quick to state that for him the visit to Havana “brought a joy to partake in the triumph of the church. This church here is very cosmopolitan, and more membership-based than leadership-based in its mission. That’s what I wish to affirm. Just hear the music, the enthusiastic expression of Christian joy. That’s the church in Cuba.”
On Saturday afternoon Mrs. Caridad Diego, director of the Religious Affairs Office of the Cuban government, local and municipal officials, and representatives of the Cuban Council of Churches and the Bible Society joined the participants in the centennial program at the Vibora Church. Diego expressed wishes for “the church to continue its service for the society.” She recognized the activities of the church as a faith community and for the community at large.
Fontaine, who opened the centennial celebrations under a theme of “100 Years of Renewing Lives,” said, “The Lord has allowed everything during these past years.” He recalled the beginnings in Havana of the early foreign missionaries; the first baptism on May 18, 1904; the first congregation established in Havana; and church growth over the years that is now expressed in 565 congregations, more than 3,000 baptisms annually, and a strong Adventist family of as many as 35,000 believers.
Attending the services in Havana was Orville Parchment, assistant to the president of the world church. Visiting Cuba for the first time, Parchment was the main speaker for the celebrations and emphasized one of the core tenets of Adventism — “being ready” for Christ’s return. He was overwhelmed by the “quality of Christian witness in that country,” he said.
“It was comforting to know that the church there is alive and well. What I saw was enthusiasm and a keen hope in the second coming of Jesus. They are not discouraged by the circumstances of their daily living, but express their happiness in the Lord,” Parchment added.
Copyright © 2004 by Adventist News Network
