Cuba is our second oldest mission field. IM first sent missionaries there in 1941 and maintained a thriving work in the 40s and 50s. With the Revolution, missionaries were forced to leave the island. The church went through at least three decades of persecution and extreme limitations with very little contact with the outside world. Contact with the churches in Cuba was reestablished in 1986. Since then, in spite of not having missionaries there, IM has helped the churches to get back on their feet. One of the pivotal projects that opened the doors for the Cuban Church to regroup and begin to thrive again was the reopening of the Bible Institute.

IM helped them reopen the school, remodel the old buildings, build new ones, and sent teachers to train a new generation of leaders. We still maintain strong ties with the school, which has upgraded the quality of their training and added several different levels. Pre-COVID (2019) we had 268 students in training. This includes on-campus students, off-campus students that study on campus, and decentralized Bible Institutes that function in some of the local churches. It includes the levels of Bible Institute, an associate degree, bachelor’s degree, and master’s degree. There is also a second campus of the seminary on the eastern side of the Island.

We also partner with them in sponsoring church-planters who are fanning out into practically all of the fifteen provinces of the 650-mile long Island. The association now has approximately 145 churches and mission churches. One of our projects is to help them purchase houses that can be used to house a pastor AND hold church services. They are not permitted to buy land and build church buildings, but do have the freedom to worship in homes.

The association owns and maintains a nursing home which houses 42 seniors and is in a building program to add more rooms to house those on a waiting list.

We are excited to see the Church in Cuba respond to the Lord’s calling to reach the regions beyond by sending out their own cross-cultural missionaries. They currently have a couple in Ivory Coast (a physician and her pastor husband). Another couple is working to revitalize a church in Montevideo, Uruguay. We are happy to give them assistance in this area as well.