Revival in Cuba

Posted on September 12, 2024

There’s a revival going 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