“Belonging to the Lutheran World Federation allows us to give and receive in various ways”
(Lutheran World Information Center) – When the United Evangelical Church of Cuba, Lutheran Synod (UECCLS) learned that it had been accepted as a member of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the celebrations lasted a week.
“For the UECCLS, joining the LWF means being clear that we are now part of the international Lutheran community. We are no longer on our own. Now we can be in communion with our brothers and sisters in faith,” said Bishop Ismael Laborde Figueras.
“We are no longer on our own. Now we can be in communion with our brothers and sisters in faith,”
– Bishop Ismael Laborde Figueras.
“Belonging to the Lutheran communion allows us to give and receive in various ways. We can learn from others and, at the same time, offer the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us,” he says. “We can offer the experience of founding a church in a non-European and not so Germanic context. We can offer the experience of leadership training in a country where our church has no legal basis for its activity. Before this, we were rather alone. Now we have company.”
The UECCLS has 1,500 members and 11 congregations in seven provinces. More women than men serve in its diaconal and pastoral ministry, including one assistant bishop. Women also have equal rights to hold decisive leadership positions in the UECCLS, and the diocesan council is made up mostly of women. What is more, it is the only church in the country with Cuban music in its liturgical book, and it also creates gospel music and music for children.
Worship, diakonia and ecumenism
The church’s main social ministry and evangelization program, JOEL Cuba, brings together pastors and volunteers. JOEL distributes Bibles and biblical materials and promotes activities that support health and well-being. One of its musical groups, “JOEL Vixion,” which is one of the longest-active in the country, travels around villages and churches, proclaiming the Word of God through music.
There is also a program whose goal is to build churches or to acquire and adapt buildings for worship, which is important for a church that began in private homes. Today the Lutheran church holds services and maintains its programs in the Aposento Alto building in Santiago de Cuba. “We have other properties that still legally belong to private individuals who serve the church. We are working on transferring these properties to the UECCLS.”
The members of the Cuban Lutheran church come from all social strata of the country’s society, including marginalized people. It is a church that promotes its ecumenical calling through dialogue, celebrations and other acts of cooperation with Protestants and Catholics.
Its lay and ordained men and women actively participate in social ministry and diakonia in Cuban society, especially proclaiming the values of equality and justice. A program that began in 2002 provides pastoral and diaconal support to vulnerable groups, especially seniors and people living with HIV and AIDS.
Theological education
In 2000 the church opened its theological seminary, which offers Bible studies and courses, ranging from a school-level certificate in Christian education to a diploma earned over six years of training. “Because we are a confessional and confessing church and exist in a country with a high level of education, we pay special attention to the process of theological training,” the bishop says. The church also continually works on small self-sustaining projects to maintain its ministry in Cuba, and gradually acquires funding from abroad.
Although the church is free to form communities and proclaim the gospel without persecution and discrimination, the government does not officially permit theological education. Another challenge is the high cost of living. Workers are paid in Cuban pesos (CUP), but goods and services are valued in the convertible national currency (CUC), which is pegged to the US dollar. As a result, a worker’s daily wage is less than one US dollar, and church members’ donations are small.
“All of this makes the church’s ministry a challenge and very interesting, but we always find a way forward – with God’s help and our own ingenuity,” concludes Bishop Laborde Figueras.
The LWF welcomed the UECCLS into the Lutheran communion at the June 2018 Council meeting in Geneva.
Santiago de Cuba, Cuba / Geneva
| 23./01./2019.
Source: The Lutheran World Federation