Volunteers from the General Conference (GC) Secretariat who recently visited the Cardenas Seventh-day Adventist Church in Cardenas, Matanzas, Cuba, were reminded of the power of prayer. The story has been told many times for a decade now, but it stills stirs and inspires those who hear it for the first time, church leaders in Cuba said.

An Unexpected Stop

It was a relaxing Sabbath afternoon for Maranatha Volunteers International leaders near Cardenas a decade ago, until they learned scores of church members were waiting nearby for a visit and a special announcement. Apparently, local church members had come to understand that Maranatha, an independent supporting ministry of the Adventist Church that supports church, schools, and water wells developments around the world, was ready to build them a new sanctuary. The church members had fasted and prayed about it, and now they were ready to witness the answer to their prayers.

“We hadn’t planned to stop by to greet the congregation that day,” Kenneth Weiss, Maranatha executive vice president, told the GC Secretariat team on August 1, 2024. “But when we were rushed to the front to greet the expectant congregation, I felt that honesty was the best way to go,” Weiss said.

The team of volunteers from the General Conference Secretariat gets acquainted with the story of the Cardenas church, as the church prepares to host a regional youth conference.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

The façade of the Cardenas Seventh-day Adventist Church on its inauguration day in April 2017.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

“Hot or Cold? It’s Your Choice!” was the theme of a regional youth conference in Cardenas, Cuba, August 2-4.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

A choir that includes members of the General Conference Secretariat team rehearses a special musical selection at the Cardenas church on August 1.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

Delivering Bad News

Weiss shared how on that Sabbath afternoon, he stepped to the front of the Cardenas congregation and told members in no uncertain terms that the information they had received was inaccurate. “We don’t have the funds, so it’s not in our plans to build a church here in Cardenas. It just not going to happen,” he told them.

A moment later, one church member after the other began to cry. “The whole church began to wail. I had never seen anything like it!” Weiss recalled. “People, young and old, were crying in a loud voice, mourning because their dreams had suddenly crashed.” Not knowing what to do or how to react, Weiss eventually invited people to pray, asking God to intervene.

A Young Person’s Prayer

A young girl, barely a teenager, volunteered to come to the front to pray. There, she raised her arms to heaven, and prayed in a voice everyone could hear. “God, we thank You for the new church that You have provided for us!” she said. Then she went back to her seat.

That occasion triggered a series of providential events, Weiss said, which showed how God is willing to act when His children decide to put their trust in Him.

“Maranatha started construction on the Cardenas church in 2016, after waiting more than 20 years for the Cuban government to grant construction permits,” Weiss said. Donors who heard the Cardenas church story stepped up, and the building was completed and dedicated in April 2017. The facility covers 12,000 square feet (1,114 square meters) and seats 500 people in the main sanctuary, with more on the second floor. Other rooms include Sabbath school classrooms, a fellowship hall, bathrooms, and even showers.

The building was designed to accommodate worship for the local congregation while also serving as a place for convocations and retreats. It is frequently used by the local church conference and by the Adventist Church’s Cuban Union Conference.

Church cooks lack electric or natural gas ovens, so they still cook on coals, even for an event with 300 guests.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

Cuban Union Conference president Aldo Pérez (left) introduces the Cardenas church kitchen team to the members of the General Conference Secretariat team, during a brief visit to the premises on August 1.

Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

A Momentous Visit

The GC Secretariat team’s visit to the Cardenas church on August 1 took place in the middle of a 10-day outreach and mission initiative to Adventist congregations in Havana. During late July and early August, a team of two dozen volunteers who serve at the Adventist Church world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, United States, scraped and painted church buildings, made minor repairs, preached the gospel, and shared their testimonies in several congregations in Cuba’s capital city.

The visit to the Cardenas church, located in the province of Matanzas a couple of hours east of Havana, brought to the forefront Maranatha’s island-wide efforts to support the Adventist Church in Cuba, regional church leaders said. During the visit, guests toured the facilities, were treated to a hearty meal, and listened to stories of how God has been active in that region of the island.

A Place of Light

When the GC team visited Cardenas, local and regional members were preparing for the arrival of about 300 Adventist young people the next day. “They will sleep here, eat here, and worship in our sanctuary,” Aldo Pérez, Cuban Union Conference president, told the visiting team. “The Cardenas church is the meeting place for the church in Cuba, the venue of preference for many of our church events,” Pérez shared.

It is something that highlights the importance of a dream, prayer, and moving forward in faith, Pérez said.

“The construction and inauguration of this church was a game-changer for the Adventist Church in Cuba,” Pérez said. Regional church leaders noted that the Cardenas church has been built in a place known for the practice of Santería, an Afro-Caribbean religion that combines elements of Christianism and Spiritualism. “It’s in the darkest place that the light of God is shining brighter,” church leaders said, adding, “From here, strong rays are illuminating the whole island.”

The original article was published on the Adventist Review website.