Adventist Review

For Adventists in Cuba, House Churches Could Be a Game Changer

The Casablanca project is a model case of the initiative’s potential, leaders say.

August 17, 2024

Cuba

Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review

Daisy Mederos Rodriguez and José Perera Madruga, a couple who are caretakers of the Casablanca property in Havana, Cuba, that Maranatha Volunteers International recently purchased.

[Photo: Marcos Paseggi, Adventist Review]

When Daisy Mederos Rodriguez recently needed a series of tests after lung surgery, she went to a hospital in Havana, Cuba, for an appointment. “Don’t worry, teacher,” a young man told her with a smile. “I will take care of you.”

Seventeen years before that encounter in the hospital, the young man, now a surgery resident, had attended Daisy’s Vacation Bible School as a child. In a makeshift outreach center, that child and scores of others learned about God and the Bible and received nutritious meals.

“I have been doing this for 17 years,” Rodriguez shares. “And they don’t forget. Some of my former students are now in the military or have become physicians and respectable members of society.”

The house of Daisy and José in Havana, Cuba, where an Adventist group met for years before Maranatha purchased a property across the street.

Rodriguez shared how recently, a mother, who serves in the Cuban armed forces, told her what recently happened at her home with Emanuel, her three-year-old, who attends Rodriguez’s center. “We were about to eat,” the woman shared with Daisy, “when Emanuel tells me, ‘Mom, we haven’t prayed. Don’t you know that all we have comes from God? We must give Him thanks!’ ” Stories like this are what keeps her going, Rodriguez says.

Development Challenges

Rodriguez and her husband, José Perera Madruga, live in Casablanca, a working-class ward to east of the entrance to Havana Harbor. For years, the couple used part of their property as a house church. Dozens would gather every week to sing to the Lord and study the Bible. Rodriguez had a baptismal pool built inside her property, where, through the years, dozens who had accepted Jesus were baptized.

In its heyday, the congregation had 110 baptized members, Rodriguez says. “But most of the members of that group eventually emigrated. Recently, a family of eight left. I had to start again from scratch.”

Room in a private home where the Casablanca group used to meet in Havana.

There are other challenges. The roof of the original home property is now about to collapse, and it is deemed not safe. Also, every time it rains, the water flows freely inside the house’s rooms.

The roof and ceiling of the old home church are in danger of collapsing.

A Game Changer

Earlier in 2024, Maranatha Volunteers International, an independent supporting ministry of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, began to support the house-church initiative in Cuba. Maranatha began to purchase properties with the potential to become house churches and outreach ministry centers. These places have all the proper authorizations from the Cuban government to function as places of worship. While they don’t enjoy all the rights and benefits of full-fledged congregations, government regulations allow for those places to hold religious and social activities, including Saturday (Sabbath) worship. In one of the ministry’s first transactions, Maranatha purchased a house property not many feet away from Rodriguez’s old home. It is expected that others will soon follow.“The Casablanca property’s plot size has a lot of potential,” Maranatha’s executive vice president Kenneth Weiss said when visiting the premises on August 2. “This could be a model to follow at other places. There’s a lot that could be done on this and other properties providing funding becomes available,” he added.

Baptistry that Daisy Mederos built in the back of her old property. For years, it was used to welcome dozens of new members to the Adventist Church.

Already an Outreach Center

Rodriguez is not waiting for future developments before she starts serving her neighborhood, however. She and her husband have moved to the new property as caregivers. They have cleared the backyard, started a vegetable garden, and organized a Vacation Bible School for children and a house church on Sabbath for adults and children. A room in the property is also used for small-group Bible studies.

The place is thriving. Every week, around 80 children meet to learn Bible stories, sing, make crafts, and enjoy a wholesome meal. “We study a Bible story and then find ways of bringing that story to life,” she says. “I also assign Bible verses that children must memorize. And it’s exactly what they do.”

Some banana plants growing at the back of Daisy Mederos’s property, which she planted in order to distribute plantains and bananas among her neighbors.

Rodriguez’s ministry keeps going thanks to occasional donations from church members and friends. “I don’t have much, but I keep praying for God to send me the funds to keep this ministry going,” she says. Rodriguez has other dreams too. “If I could get a few tents, we could camp here at the back and launch a Pathfinder ministry,” she says. “The goal is to reach more children for Jesus, and through them, reach out to their parents.”

Façade of the property Maranatha Volunteers International recently purchased to be used as an outreach center, and possibly a church in the spacious backyard.

Above all, Rodriguez emphasizes, I have been praying. “Lord, send me someone,” she prays, “that is moved to mercy for this place, these children … Personally, I lack nothing. I want nothing. I just would like to have more resources to move this ministry forward.”According to Weiss, Rodriguez is on the right track. “Keep praying,” he suggests. “Keep praying, and your prayers will be answered.”

Maranatha Volunteers International is an independent supporting ministry and is not operated by the corporate Seventh-day Adventist Church.

The original article was published on the Adventist Review website.