Havana's Moment Has Arrived
My parents were pastors in a small town in Cuba where I grew up. When I was three years old, my father was arrested because he was a pastor. He was released three years later, and that was the first time I remember seeing him. The economy and religion made growing up in Cuba difficult. We were very poor, and because of my family's Christianity, my teachers and fellow students beat me and laughed at me.
When I was a teenager, I made three decisions. First, I decided to be a tough man. People would respect me. Second, I was going to be a smart man. I wanted to study at a university and lift my family out of poverty. Third, and most importantly, I was not going to be a pastor. I wouldn't subject my family to the life I had growing up. My life's purpose was to accomplish these three things.
I was successful in the first two endeavors. I became a national judo champion and received a scholarship to study neuroscience. People not only respected me; they feared me. I had only one last goal to achieve: avoid becoming a pastor.
But that wasn't God's agenda. One of the most difficult times of my life was when I felt God calling me to ministry. Despite the inner struggles I had with the idea of leading a church, I ended up attending seminary, meeting and marrying my wife, and becoming what I had resolved never to be: a pastor. After pastoring not one but two churches, I studied theology for four years in Colombia and returned to Cuba to lead the seminary for thirteen years as an academic dean.
“One of the most difficult times of my life was when I felt God calling me to ministry.”
But I was deeply troubled about something. The churches I had pastored were part of a denomination marked by legalism. There were a number of students in my seminary who were part of this denomination. I can be quite rebellious, and this legalism wasn't something I subscribed to. I was looking for something new—and many of the seminary students and other pastors I met were, too.
I got in touch with a man named Allen Thompson, who has since become my mentor, and he introduced me to Tim Keller's books. As I studied Keller and other authors, I began to understand a whole new concept of grace and the gospel. As a legalistic denomination, we focused heavily on morality, and holiness was seen as something that had to be achieved in order to be saved by Christ. But when I experienced the impact of the gospel, it changed me. I saw that I didn't need the grace of God just to receive salvation, but to live life daily, as well. As I shared this with others, they too began to understand grace differently. And as my own life was transformed by the gospel, my perspective on how the gospel could impact Cuba began to change. I began to see a strategy on how to work in the cities of Cuba. Then, I met Robert Guerrero of Redeemer City to City, who influenced me to think about how ministry can be tailor-made to fit its specific context. By the power of God, the gospel changes what it touches. It changes the individual, transforms the community, and renews the church.
That's the difference between ascribing to a cultural Christianity and following the gospel. Cultural Christianity doesn't change people as deeply as experiencing God’s Word in full. Churches rooted in the gospel are open to learning and understanding what their community is like and how exactly it needs the truth and love of Jesus to guide it.
My focus is now planting these types of churches—churches that work to reach everyone who lives in the cities of Cuba. Take artists, for example: many churches here don't want to engage with them because they tend to break patterns and transcend cultural norms. Traditional churches aren't comfortable with that. So, we're doing something new. We relate to different types of people because God loves them and the Holy Spirit has the power to change everyone. We also understand the importance of social justice initiatives in cities. As we reach out to different populations, we don't get involved just to invite them to our churches. We get involved because we want to glorify God, and in the process, God benefits these populations and may be revealed to them.
One of our churches has a ministry called A Grain of Sand, which feeds eighty elderly and homeless women daily. There are also fifty teens and young adults in the program, and the workshops bring the elders and youth together. In fact, a grandfather met his grandson for the first time through one of these workshops. Many of these teens have been on the streets, and this exposure to grandparent figures is serving to reconnect these teens with the concept of family unity.
The same church spearheaded an initiative to paint the houses in the neighborhood. A local gang leader asked the project leader, "Why are you doing this?" The project coordinator responded, "We want to be able to show you that there is something better and that we love you." The gang leader responded by gathering some friends and painting the church that same day. Since then, this young man has given his life to Christ, and his whole life has changed.
Grain of Sand has now been operating for twelve years and is a project officially observed by the government. As the government measured the impact rates of its programs, they found that crime had decreased by 30% in this neighborhood. “What have we done to achieve this success?” they asked. They were told it was because of the work of this church. This is the power of the church to understand and address some of the social issues happening in its community.
“There is great momentum and it is vital that we respond. If we don't train leaders, we are delaying the process. We've been praying for something like this for a long time. It's serious and we're ready.”
In 2011, we started a training center in order to train other leaders to plant gospel-based churches. We have targeted ten cities to plant in and are currently working on six of them. We want to see these cities transformed by the life-changing power of Jesus. Thankfully, God is allowing us to work with key leaders to do this, including those who work in government, as well as the poor, artists, and professionals. Relationships with all of these various kinds of people are important. As we approach evangelism, we focus on getting to know them and building a real connection with them. And as we train leaders to relate to people in this way, we're seeing a lot of people come to Christ and want to attend church, and so small house churches are being formed every few days. God is working in incredible ways.
As a result of the understanding and deepening of the doctrines of grace—and the gospel as a whole—our understanding of mercy and justice has journeyed toward new horizons. The Mercy Network was formed by 20 churches, its job to help vulnerable people acquire food and thus to show them God's love. This alone has changed the entire city. Today the gospel is being preached in more than 50,000 homes in the city, and that number is growing.
A church planting network was also formed with the same understanding of the gospel and a heart for non-believers. Through Robert Guerrero's relationship with leaders in the Caribbean, City to City officially works with us in Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Together, we formed the Caribbean Church Planting Network, which aims to bring together existing ministry work in the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and City to City North America. There is a surge of church planting in Cuba and the Dominican Republic right now, and there is a great need to build a foundation around the gospel. We also work with twenty-one different denominations in Cuba, opting not to take a pushy approach but one that kindly and clearly lets them know that the focus and core is the gospel.
Under Robert Guerrero's leadership, we are working to build more relationships with other Spanish-speaking countries in the Caribbean, especially Puerto Rico, where we have good connections with leaders. In fact, we have our own printing press and have obtained permission to print several Tim Keller books in Spanish. The book we've printed the most is Shaped by the Gospel (Moldeado por el Evangelio)—a simple book, but deep and profound.
City to City Miami (in partnership with City to City North America) hosted its first Intensive training in Miami. We sent fourteen leaders from the Dominican Republic to attend and five from Cuba. We have years of experience in managing training content, but we attended to get technical details on organizing our own Intensives. There is great momentum and it is vital that we respond. If we don't train leaders, we are delaying the process. We've been praying for something like this for a long time. It's serious and we're ready. The time has come.
About the Author
Pachy Quesada is a catalytic leader of the Los Pinos Nuevos Association of Churches in Cuba and the general coordinator of the Caribbean Church Planting Network. He also pastors Los Pinos Nuevos Church in Old Havana. Pachy and his wife, Marilim, live in Havana, Cuba. They have three adult children.