Tuesday, March 25, 2008

 

Cuba gets it...

Got back from Cuba a couple of weeks ago and it was amazing. Herald of Truth has a field office there where Tony Fernandez follows up on our radio contacts. Juan Monroy has a shortwave program and Tim Archer an AM program that cover the island. Working out of the city of Matanzas, Tony and his team have planted fourteen house churches with over 250 baptisms in the last 15 months. They find someone who has written in response to the program, or find someone who knows someone, or find a relative of one of the Christians, and study the Bible with them. When someone is converted, the church starts meeting in their house.

Tim and I visited six of these churches. They had from 12-30 people at each one, crammed in wall to wall, sitting on the floor, eager to hear God's Word. Most of them Christians less than two years. Most of the teaching is done by men from Matanzas, but new converts are expected to undergo training so they can be preaching and teaching within six months. There is one full time evangelist and he uses 1/2 his salary to pay expenses for the men traveling out to preach on Sundays. The "mother" church in Matanzas has about 350 members and they meet in Tony's "backyard" under a tin covering.

They get it.

Sarcasm warning.

Just imagine if they had staffs like we do here in the States. What if they could have youth ministers, and worship ministers, and involvement ministers? If we could just get them to really focus on a vision statement. If we could only get them to build facilities like all of our congregations have. Just imagine what they could do. Just like us, they could baptize 20, or 30, or maybe even 100 a year.

I don't want them to be like us. I was ashamed by the comparison. In fact, it would be interesting if they could come and teach us. I just don't know if we would listen.

I know it is different here. Different culture, different politics, different economy. And I know some of us do get it. But let's be honest. We are not growing like they are. We are not changing our world like they are. We are not living radical like they are. Maybe it is because for them to become a Christian really is a life changing event. It costs them. Much is expected.

And we want to build buildings, not offend anyone, and build mega churches. Which church would Jesus be more at home in....Cuba or the United States?

So... how do we "get it" in the same way they do?

God, thank you for the amazing things you are doing in Cuba. Thanks for the passion and commitment of my brothers and sisters there. Help me to keep that same kind of fire and passion here.

Comments:
You know, the Lord warned us that it was easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than to get into heaven. In short, we have too much and are not left to hunger for anything. But we do -- thus the addictions to everything from the flesh to spending to food to chemicals as we seek to satisfy the hunger of a heart left hungry for its Creator.

I think Cuba gets it because the gaping holes in their lives are so much more evident, and their society has not led them to believe that they are "self-sufficient": there's an evil phrase.
 
Response to "sarcasm warning"...

You ARE SO RIGHT! Americans can find more reasons to hire ministers to fill niche ministries than any other nation on this globe. Why? So that "ordinary" members don't have to get their hands and feet dirty...why else do we put together committees for months on end to find that "perfect" candidate with all the right attributes, education and vitae? What if each of the persons on the search committee went out and actually performed the work that they were hiring someone else to do? How much more effective for the Kingdom would this approach be??!!

NOTE: I am guilty of the aforementioned...I cast the first stone at my own feet.

-TMS
 
Post a Comment

<< Home

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?