The Cuba-Florida Covenant is a relationship which has been established between two annual conferences for the purpose of implementing ministries for strengthening the local church in each conference and for mutual conference wide programs.
As a partner in this covenant, Palma Ceia is able to provide ongoing support to Iglesia Metodista Juan Wesley (Juan Wesley Methodist Church) in Reparto Marmol, Altamaira, Provincia Santiago de Cuba.
The Cuba/Florida Covenant - What is it? It is a relationship which has been established between two annual conferences for the purpose of implementing ministries for strengthening the local church in each conference and for mutual conference wide programs. A covenant means a mutual sharing of resources.
Facts about the Iglesia Metodista Juan Wesley
- Complete Name: Iglesia Metodista Juan Wesley
- Adress: Calle 7 #28 1/2 E y G, Reparto Marmol, Altamaira, Provincia Santiago de Cuba
- Pastor: Rev. Raidel Bano Roque (pictured right), who is married and has one son.
- Members: Approximately 100 with 150 attending on Sunday’s and 120 attending Bible Studies.
- Mission Houses: In 2004 they had 9. Determined to open new missions Juan Wesley continues their work with children (music-dance/drama, and some with the aid of puppets, which they badly need).
Needs of our sister church
Right now, the church is attempting to finish their temple. The roof and walls are in so they are now meeting in the building. Palma Ceia United Methodist has donated over $29,000 designated for various projects.
The various needs include materials to work with children in the Sunday School Dept. (papers, crayons, pencils, etc.) puppets, record players, coloring books, bible stories, television and VCR, to name just a few.
How do we help?
- Collect materials for the Sunday Bible Studies and children ministries (pencils, crayons, tempera, puppets, etc.) to be sent to Juan Wesley and El Cayo at the first opportunity with a group going to Cuba.
- Get medicines, reference bibles, and bible study materials (as you are able) to be sent when there is an opportunity.
- Eyeglass prescriptions are coming in all the time so that they can be processed in Tampa at a cost of $30, and returned to them. You can make donations toward covering the cost.
- Pray for the Lord’s leading to see if we can go on a future caravan mission trip.
- Attend meetings of the Cuba/Florida Covenant, usually the third Monday of each month at the Lake Magdalene UMC, Fletcher, Ave.
How did the Cuba/Florida Covenant begin?
Bishop H. Hasbrouck Hughes visited the Methodist Church in Cuba in December, 1994. Cubans gravitated to him with great interest for re-establishing the relationship with the Florida Conference - interrupted for many years. The meeting of Cuban leaders with Cuban Americans was a huge success as the mostly Cuban exiled community embraced the Cuban church leaders with open arms.
By the 1996 session of the Annual Conference, the Shalom Choir from Cuba was beginning a 22 church tour around the state, plus singing at the conference. Bishop Gustavo Cruz delivered a powerful unity sermon. A large offering was collected for the purchase of many Spanish language hymnals to Cuba. In July, 1996, the Cuba/Florida Covenant Task Force was convened to define the development of the Covenant with the support of Bishop Cornelius Henderson. The draft of the Cuba/Florida Covenant was presented and ratified at the 1997 Florida Annual Conference, It was signed by Rev. Rinaldo Hernandez Torres, representing Cuban Bishop Cruz (who was recovering from a stroke) and Bishop Henderson. At the 1999 Annual General Conference in Cuba, Rev. Ricardo Pereira was elected as the Bishop of the Methodist Church in Cuba.
The following are sister districts
- Cuba Florida
- Pinar del Rio West Palm Beach
- Habana/ Isla Juventud Jacksonville/Deland
- Matanzas St Petersburg
- Central Tallahassee/Gainesville
- Agramontino Lakeland/Sarasota
- Holguin-Tunas Orlando/Melbourne
- Holguin - Norte Miami/Ft Myers
- Sierra Maestra Tampa/Leesburg
- Santiago/Guantánamo Tampa/Leesburg
Updates: on-going relationship with Cuba
- Camp Canaan – Methodist Assembly – Many UMVIM teams have gone and are still going until completion. The sanctuary is scheduled to be finished and inaugurated in Summer of 2002.
- Methodist teams (Caravans) – many have visited different parts of Cuba for evangelization, training, and fellowship.
- Sister church relationships continue being established. Clergy and laity travel in small delegations from Florida to their sister churches and Annual District Rallies in Cuba every year.
- Support for clergy/laity training, such as the Emmaus Walk, Orlando’s Asbury Theological Seminary, Chicago’s Garrett Institute Dallas Perkins Institute.Those receiving this training then take this spiritual growth and development instruction to Cuba for many who are coming into Christian faith.
- Mission trips to Cuba have provided a safe means to get medicine to different districts. The Cuba Methodist Church – Medical Commission provides supervised distribution of medicines. In emergency cases, prescriptions needed by church members have been sent to Cuba. Individual prescription eyeglasses have been filled and sent to church members.
- Assistance through Support Advance Specials/Cuba Methodism.
- Aldersgate Sunday designated as Pray for Cuba Sunday in Florida United Methodist churches.
- House churches and missions are now being “legalized” for religious activities.
District partnerships
So that there is an orderly and even distribution of the sharing of relationship with the Cuban churches throughout the Island, the Cuba/Florida Covenant established district partnerships for an interchange between the conferences. Interested churches engage in church-to-church partnerships within their assigned district partnership.
Florida's benefits and goals
- Mutually sharing the history, current events, culture and spirituality of both churches.
- Cuban revival made contagious in Florida.
- Sharing the sacrificial and fervent lifestyle of the Cuban pastors and laity in Florida.
- Hosting preaching missions and revivals in our lively churches.
- Learning of the house-church as a mission station information on how it might be applied in Florida.
- Cubans hosting mission caravans and preparing learning materials for US delegations.
- Cuban youth leaders coming to the US to youth camp and sharing their faith with US youth.
- Hosting Cuban choirs and praise bands and sharing the Cuban Christian music
- Bulletin inserts for local churches about events in Cuban Methodism.
Historical justification
Cuban Methodism took root in “fertile though troubled soil” (M. Ware). During the dying years of the Spanish colony in Cuba, the Florida Conference of the Methodist Church South commissioned Cuban expatriates, Revs. Enrique Someillán and Aurelio Silveira, converted at Key West Methodist Missions, to return to Cuba and open a mission in a Havana hotel, 15 years before the Spanish-American War of 1898.
After the war, foreign missionaries began to expand the work that Someillán and Silveira and faithfully begun. through the generosity of the Methodist Church in the U.S., and specifically the Florida Conference. The means were made available to expand the work across the 600 mile island. It became evident that the destiny of Cuban Methodism was linked to the destiny of Florida Methodism. Cuba came under the Area of the Florida Annual Conference. The leadership of Bishops Moore, Short, Branscomb,and Henley cover most of this period. The first Cuban General Superintendent was Rev Angel Fuster. He planted the seeds for autonomy before his untimely death in 1962.
Rev. Fuster was consecrated posthumously as the first Bishop of the autonomous Methodist Church in Cuba in 1968. Bishop Armando Rodriguez was elected bishop and served through 22 years, a period filled with the greatest crises for the Cuban church.
By the triumph of the Castro revolution of 1959, there were 53 US missionaries, with a growing number of Cuban ordained clergy. By 1960, 9,000 Cubans professed Methodist Christianity. By the end of 1961, all missionaries had left, and 95% of the ordained Cuban clergy found sanctuary in the US, mostly in Florida. Churches were suppressed from all activities except worship in houses of worship. In 1963, the Board of Missions of the Methodist Church was forced to cut off the support funds to the Cuban church, a sum that consisted of 60% of the conference budget.
The Methodist Women and Youth sustained the church as they trained as lay pastors to fill the vacancies of the absent ordained clergy. By 1991, the government began loosening its grip on the churches. UMVIM teams from the US began to send teams to restore the deteriorated churches. People of faith were allowed to hold jobs and send their children to school. Home prayer and Bible meetings in homes flourished.
Today, a miracle has taken place. There are 146 chartered churches, including 143 pastoral appointment plus 405 missions; 40,000 Cubans worship in Methodist churches and missions, two thirds of them are new Christians. The Cubans have much to teach the Florida Conference. Pray and Celebrate the Methodist Church in Cuba.
