Introduction
The Hindu population in the Republic of Cuba is a people group unreached by evangelical Christians. With relations between Cuba and the U. S. “normalized” to some extent,1 this is an opportune time to help mobilize Cuban Christians, especially converted Cuban Hindus, to reach these people.
Other than population size, data is largely unavailable.2 The dearth of data neither eliminates the need to reach this group nor prohibits establishing an efficient working plan to accomplish that goal.
This paper will by necessity begin with a survey to establish basic parameters such as identifying population centers, occupations, family structure, social institutions, and the spectrum of Hinduism practiced.3 This work will be administered and coordinated by a mission board using short-term mission activities as well as missionary resources “on the ground” in Cuba.
The intermediate goal is the creation of a self-sustaining ongoing program within Cuban Christianity to evangelize this unreached people group. It will have the support of the American mission board for technical support as well as the provision of short- and long-term missionary presence as needed. The result will be the salvation of lost souls who are currently without the Gospel.
It is time for American missions to help reach Cuban Hindus with the Gospel by assisting
and supporting a Cuban inreach program augmented by converted Hindu Christians.
Background
Cuba is an island nation located in the Caribbean Sea 90 miles south of the United States and nestled within a ring of islands that includes the Bahamas, Hati and the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands. It is the largest island in the Caribbean. The map shows the island and its geographic relationship with its neighbors.4 The capitol, Havana (population 1.4 million), is one of 19 cities of over 130-thousand people.
The Cuban Hindu People Group
The Hindu population of Cuba is largely invisible to the outside world. The Joshua Project considers them an unreached people group by evangelistic Christians who by and large do not even know that they exist.5 Listed in census data as “South Asian, general,” their count is 35 thousand of an island population of 11.4 million.6 The World Population Review does not recognize a Cuban Indian or Hindu population.7 They do not appear in histories, narratives, business reports, or religious documents. This report will by necessity describe Cuba in broad brush strokes that will provide little information on the Cuban Hindus. The challenge of this project is to use available data to formulate a plan that begins with gathering data and assessing local resources to develop a roadmap for a full-fledged inreach into the Hindu population.
Rather than voluntary immigrants, Indian Hindus were part of the British colonial program to provide “indentured laborers” for the sugar cane plantations. A cheap labor source was needed after the British abolished the African slave trade throughout the Empire in 1833, but some 400 thousand illegal African slaves and indentured Indian Hindu workers were still “imported” during this period.8 Hindus were brought from Punjab to Dhaka in North India and Madras in South India.9 While the title for the laborers changed, their working conditions did not. Unlike the African slaves, Hindus who completed the terms of their indenture could seek work in the open economy including government work if they officially embraced Christianity.10
A Brief History of Cuba
Cuba, before the European era, was home to Mesoamerican cultures that were in fierce competition with each other, often resulting in bloody takeovers and genocide. In 1492 Columbus arrived, claiming the entire island for Spain.11 By 1514 the first European settlement introduced the local population to a new threat: Spanish Catholic missionaries came to save their souls so that the politicians and businessmen could enslave their bodies.12 European diseases almost wiped out the native populations. Another surge of of Spanish immigrants in the 1800s continued this European supremacy while suppressing the local labor class. The “need” for plantation labor brought the African slave-trade to the island in 1762.13
When other Caribbean peoples rebelled and gained their independence, Cuba was an anomaly, continuing on the Spanish for their economic needs. Other European countries entered the economy in 1818 when the ports were opened to all nations. The growing sugar trade with Europe was enhanced by the American Civil War that disrupted American sugar production and increasing the “need” for low cost labor.14
Internal unrest fueled by continuing Spanish domination ultimately led to a series of wars for independence between 1868 and 1902, as “economic elites” who wanted more “control over their own political and economic futures,” incited the labor class.15 The Hindu population remains transparent.
The wars for independence did not bring the peace and prosperity that the patriots had sought. Political, social, and economic reforms failed as unrest ebbed and flowed. American interests, dominating from 1859 through 1902, peaked in the Spanish-American war in 1898, when the American warship USS Maine exploded in the Cuban harbor.16 America was the victor, and thousands of Cubans in Spanish concentration camps were set free as President Roosevelt returned the island to the Cuban people, while reserving certain “privileges,”17 including American occupation.18 Post-occupation Cuba was left with a vastly improved infrastructure and economy,19 but independence for the next half-century was more mockery than fact. The U.S. recognized great economic and strategic value in the island and the imposed American foreign policy that supported local leadership that that would provide stability rather than capitalism and individual rights. Racist American business and immigration policies favored whites over local mulattoes, Afro-Cubans, and Hindus. American tourism grew into a major industry rivaling sugar without the adverse effects of world market price swings.20 A stable economy was still only a dream.
Following another economic downturn and political upheaval, Fulgencio Batista came to power with the support of the U. S. His reforms failed and political ferment continued.21 This cycle was the status quo as Cuban sugar, cigars, rum, and the tourist trade brought revenue into this island that still required imports for many of its needs. The Pax Cuba was destroyed when Fidel Castro displaced Ernesto Che Guevara, embracing Communism and aligning his dictatorship with the USSR. The Cold War came to American shores when Castro allowed Soviet ICBMs to be emplaced. This brought Cubans refugees of all social strata into the U.S.22 Relations between Cuba and the United States have been “normalized” by an Executive Order of President Obama, but with ongoing stress.23 The door is open to renew relations with Cuban churches to help them to continue the evangelize their nation and beginning a work among the Hindus.24
The Hindu population remains lost in silence, largely transparent to the outside world.
Language in Cuba
The nation has no official national language, but Cuban Spanish is the predominant lingua franca for about 90% of the population. This Spanish is strongly influenced by African languages and dialects. Other ethnic languages in use include Haitian Creole, Lucimi, Galician, and Corsican. The opening of the borders has resulted in the return of tourist and commercial languages including English, French, and more.25 Hindi is the primary language of the Hindu population.26
Cuban Culture
Having passed through four historically important generations, the culture of Cuba is rich and diverse,27 “built from Spanish, African, French, and Asian influences.” The people are “passionate, gregarious, resourceful, hard working, and full of life.”28 Society is largely urban, with three-fourths of the population living in cities where “life tend(s) to revolve around the porches, balconies, and verandas of the houses or apartment-style living spaces.”29
Havana’s night-life once successfully competed with Miami, bringing American dollars into the economy. This changed with the coup by Fidel Castro and his close association with the USSR. Upon Castro’s retirement in 2008, his brother Raul assumed power and implemented limited economic and political reforms.30
In the wake of renewed governmental relations and open borders, we find that the island nation did rather well in some respects in spite of American efforts, largely through their close association with the USSR before the fall of that nation: “Cuba’s population enjoys a life expectancy rate of nearly 79 years and boasts a literacy rate of 100%.”31 There is a dichotomy between this and living conditions as the statistics mask an impoverished nation where the working-class people suffer from ongoing shortages in goods. The contribution of Hindus to
Cuban culture is not known.
The Cuban Economy
As has been seen, the Cuban economy is a driving force in its history. Cuba depends upon outside sources for much of its necessities. The American embargo was not honored by the United Nations and many nations who conducted trade during the post-Cold War period. Castro’s Cuba was never able to produce exports to balance its trade deficit, and to provide needed foreign currency to pay the import bills. The fall of the USSR removed a substantial amount of aid from that nation, causing increasing problems for the Communist government. Sugar and its offspring rum, tobacco, rum, and minerals continue to be the primary exports. Excepting some major foreign investments, most economic enterprises are still owned by the state.32 Pat Gordon of the Fundamental Baptist World-Wide Mission board, states that Hindus have come into the area in recent times as businessmen, finding a niche in the Cuban economy.33
Tourist traffic is increasing as Americans rediscover the tropical climate and hedonistic lures of Havana. In this Information Age, borders are more permeable and cultural integration of a larger scale than at any time in the past. Cuba ranks 83 among 201 nations in internet usage
with over 3.7 million users with an annual growth rate of 4%.34
Religion in Cuba
Cuban religion has been “heavily determined by its history as a commercial entrepot and sugar colony, and later as a republic with loose immigration regulations.” The “ongoing encounters of indigenes, Europeans, Africans, Chinese, Jews, and North Americans, among others, resulted in an intense process of interchange, adaptation, borrowing, and overlapping, as well as the abandonment of some beliefs and practices in favor of the construction of more syncretic ones. All religions. . . have been characterized by a high degree of flexibility and permeability.”35
The Communist dictatorship has changed the face of religion. Perhaps surprisingly, “Article 8 of the Cuban Constitution guarantees freedom of religion.”36 Socialized education, economy, and health care that “eroded the role of the church in Western Europe (has) done nothing to diminish the spread of the gospel in contemporary Cuba.37 Prior to the revolution, 90% of the population claimed to be Christian (including perhaps 10% practicing), with the remaining (and some of those listed as Christian) practicing various forms of Afro-Cuban religions. Other estimates suggest that “about half of all (pre-Castro) Cubans were agnostic, that slightly more than 40% were Christian, and that less than 2% practiced Afro-Cuban religions.”38 The Castro regime effectively closed the country to Protestant missions. Today, among the 11.4 million inhabitants are 56.2% professing Christians, of whom 82.8% are Catholic and 13.6% are Protestant. Lost among the remainder is an unreached Hindu population of 35 thousand, of whom only 3% claim to be Christians.39
The Catholic Church continues to be a major force in Cuba.40 In 1962, the Castro
government closed “more than 400 Catholic schools, charging that they spread dangerous beliefs.” This was reversed in 1991, and “the constitution was amended to characterize the state as secular instead of atheist.”41 The visit of Pope John Paul III in 1998 was intended to revive participation in the Church in an improving relationship with the state.
Protestant Christianity is experiencing a grass-roots revival that is reflected in the growth of the number of reproducing house-churches (casas cultos).
The Family in Cuba
Family is important in this island nation. In the tropical setting, family and community are integrated by an open-air lifestyle that brings life to the streets for business and relaxation. Cuban civil society had developed into one of the most advanced in Latin America prior to the Revolution. Many civic and other community organizations that existed prior to the 1959 revolution survived as attempts by the government to regulate these organizations largely failed.
Survey of Missions Work
At the risk of failing to meet the formal requirements to develop a plan to evangelize a well-documented people group, the need of this overlooked group to hear the Gospel calls for attention. It will show that data is valuable but not an essential element in a start-up program that recognizes and addresses it. This paper will be presented to the Fundamental Baptist Worldwide Mission board at their request. This board has history of service in Cuba that was disrupted by
the Castro government, but reopened last year.
History of Cuban Missions
“The Caribbean, with its multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-cultural background, has been a mission field for the past 500 years,” according to Las G. Newman, who laments that the area “has been greatly criticized for losing its vision for missions.” God and these Christians have not been passive, “The Caribbean has changed from being a mission field to being a mission
force.”42 A Christianity Today field survey found that, “most of its 12 million inhabitants need Christ.” The team found that while the nation is seeing tangible benefits such as hurricane relief a less tangible but more important indicator is the growth of casas cultos as Cuban Christians have responded to the Great Commission.43
During the British Colonial period missionaries were active in the Empire, including British holdings in the Caribbean. These missionaries were active among the Hindus, and their efforts to “convert” them were helped by the requirement that access to government jobs required a conversion to Christianity.44
The modern wave of missionaries to Cuba “arrived first in July 1898 in scattered numbers, in the company of an army of conquest, and subsequently in successive waves during military occupation,” that resulted in representation by “more than a score of Protestant denominations.” Some, like the Nazarenes, entered the area as Pentecostals and later merged with the Nazarene Church (in 1915), beginning their work in Trinidad (that boasts a major Hindu population), moving on to Cuba in 1902. This writer has been to the Nazarene mission school in Trinidad but found no evidence of a Hindu outreach. Others, like Baptists, came with the U.S. occupation in 1898 and following. Unlike the Nazarenes, the Baptists represent a variety of groups such as the American Baptists, the Southern Baptist Convention, independent Baptists, and others.45 An early attempt at an overall mission plan was an interdenominational conference held in Cienfuegos in 1902. The plan apparently did not include the Hindu population.
The Cuban evangelical church has done exceptionally well in the absence of foreign missionaries. “For 20 years Protestant churches in Communist Cuba have been multiplying at an unprecedented pace.”46 In spite of strict regulations and recurring crackdowns and persecutions, the church is thriving through local efforts that remind one of the first century Christian explosion that “turned the world upside down” (Acts 17:6).47 As Christians witnessed to and won for Christ their neighbors and friends, restrictions on existing churches and prohibitions on new ones led to the establishment of numerous casas cultos under an authorization by Fidel Castro in the early 1990s.48 Casas cultos are demonstrated to a “reproducible method for harvesting . . . interested seekers. . . (that) freed the church from physical limitations and thrust the gospel witness into the community.49 Nelson and Garrett estimate that this national revival has led to a population of “active evangelical believers” that is now 10% of the national population, all during the last decade of the 20th Century.50
Missionary Steve James of the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement has been absent from Cuba for many years but is returning through the open door. He reports that the churches and leaders he left behind are doing quite well and plans to resume his assistance in church planting and worker training.51
Growth comes with a price. As the early church became perceived as a threat to governments and the Jewish hierarchy (1 Thess 2:14), the Communist authorities have expressed similar fears by targeting casas cultos since 2000, increasing their efforts in 2005 with strictly enforced “regulations aimed at curbing the growth.”52 Some churches have been closed.53 Other church buildings have been destroyed, Christians have been harassed and arrested and imprisoned on baseless accusations.54
It is interesting that a quick search of the internet lists “Cuba Mission Trips” for hire, perhaps in lieu of a family vacation. The purpose, scope, and mission of these trips, or their coordination with and impact on missional and local evangelism, has not been evaluated. Ads include promises that the experience will be “life-changing,” and that one can become involved in “God’s destiny for the nation of Cuba.”55
The discussion of evangelical missions among Cuban Hindus begins with a review of the maturing of Western missions in India. Originally, “Western denomnilizationism was transplanted to India and little of India’s heritage was expressed in church life. . . . (but now) Cross-cultural missions and contextualization principles are now evident.”56 The overthrow of British colonialism in India warns that, “Despite a powerful movement towards Westernization (in Indian culture), Hindus feel a strong aversion towards foreign religions.”57 This is an essential point to consider when planning inreach programs into the Hindu world. Although eluding definition by academics,58 Hinduism is understood as an eclectic holistic lifestyle that is often self-contradictory and non-conformal with other Hindus. H. L. Richland says, Hinduism is a “dynamic theism that consistently affirms that finally there is only one God yet sees myriad manifestations of that God under various names and guises.”59 The Christian must recognize that this culture has permeated many aspects of Western thinking including ecumenical Christianity, displacing the Gospel with a very Hindu acceptance of all religions as co-effective. The Hindu “one god” is not the God of Creation.
Current status
In spite of “poverty and government repression” or perhaps assisted by it, “Cuban churches are indisputably flourishing.”60 As demonstrated by church growth without the assistance of outside missions, “Cubans want to have their own church and their own sense of identity.”61 As noted above, this is true of the worldwide Hindu population, and one would think, by extension, to those in Cuba. Evangelical local churches are flourishing while their outreach programs are doing the same. Amid a relaxation of oppressive regulation and enforcement that is more theoretical than practical, national registration and prohibitions against building churches by Protestant groups continues. The upside is that church growth is functionally a layperson activity as witnessing yields saved souls, leading to the formation of new casas cultos that in turn replicate themselves.62 There is local concern that a return to greater institutionalization may dampen this work of the Holy Spirit, and that an influx of different denominations and sects may confuse or confound the progress that is being made locally.63
“The Joshua Project distinguishes 17 people groups in Cuba. The Cuban Hindu population is one of two unreached people groups in Cuba.64 This small group of 35 thousand individuals is lost among the 11.4 million Cubans. The Joshua Project counts 3% who embrace Christianity, of which 0.2% (some 700 individuals) consider themselves to be evangelicals. This is an extremely small percentage relative to the national average of 56% of Cubans who profess Christianity, including 9% who are evangelicals.65 Although researchers can state that, “Today it is impossible to ignore a marked revival of religious practice in Cuba. . . . This raises two questions: Where does it originate? What impact will it have on the totality of social relations?”66 A 1980s survey “found that 85% of Cubans admitted some form of belief in, reliance on, or contact with the supernatural,” a statistic that comports with others we have seen. This same survey found that “no more than 16% belonged to organized religions,” and another 15% claimed to be confirmed atheists.67 As we can see, even “standard” data is problematic.
Denominations are sending new or former missionaries. Steve James is one of those. After being called by the Spirit to Cuba and preparation and deputation within the independent Baptist movement, he moved to Cuba. After a scant 18 months he was forced to leave the country and return to America. An important part of his ministry was training a 19-year-old Cuban to become a local pastor. Following his exile, he heard nothing from the young man—until more than 10 years later when James received a series of emails from him. Arriving back in Cuba, James was pleased to see that his disciple had indeed carried on the work begun and expanded that included three new congregations. James is currently in and out of Cuba in
preparation for continuing the work in-country under the leadership of the Spirit.68
Challenges
Immediate challenges exist. The political climate of Cuba can never be overlooked: it remains among the “world’s worst persecutors.”69 The current Cuban evangelical Christian revival dates from 1990, according to Kurt Nelson and Bob Garrett.70 Some have expressed a concern that well-meaning “short-term teams may (not) have the education and tools” to be effective and not counter-productive.71 Coordination and integration of these teams into ongoing operations to achieve specific goals seems to be a primary need in this area.
“The Hindu-Christian dialogue, in its present state (worldwide), demands both a deep experience of one’s own tradition and a sufficient knowledge of the other one. . . . (the context is) in the arena of life, the daily struggle. . . . (where we) meet the true ‘other’ not in an artificial milieu, but as a fellow-traveler in the concerns of real life.”72 Hinduism is an assimilative religion that recognizes and worships (in the idolatrous sense) many gods, including pantheistic and naturalistic gods. Christianity is accepted as one among many with Jesus accepted by some as another god. A challenge may exist if island Hindus have accepted the Afro-Cuban Paca Mama, or Earth Goddess, a deity held in varying import by scholars.73
There is a Bible shortage in Cuba due to the long ban on import and printing, with an estimate of one Bible for every six Christians.74 In 2015 Cuba ended the ban on printing Bibles, but still prohibits “modern translations,” such as the NIV, both in printing and distribution, according to Jardine Malado.75 Bibles in Hindi, printed for India, are available, but authorization for importation will have to be sought. More information is needed on local Hindu dialects.
At this point, precise consideration of manpower and other field resources is premature,
with the challenge being to locate and describe the Hindu population and locate local workers called by God to work in this field.
Present strategies
Cuba is essentially a new field for American evangelical Christian missions as the doors are opened somewhat for the first time in decades. All outside efforts must be extremely cognizant that God has greatly blessed His work in this nation despite Communist rule and without the help of the Americans. Re-entry into this field mandates that American mission boards and missionaries return as advisors and assistants to the local Christian community. This is not our standard role and will be an uncomfortable role for folks accustomed to running things, especially when this new Christian population does not fit our mold, even though blessed by God. American mission boards and the missionaries they send into the existing revival within the Cuban population must be sensitive to the working of the Holy Spirit through local Christians over the past decades without them. The new American missionary must come “hat-in-hand” as a support person to the existing successful work. Remembering the long-term damage to the native (although not idyllic) native population of Cuba by Columbus and his crowd, it is noteworthy to consider the remarks of Octavio Javier: “In Cuba, they call people who come and start new ministries, ‘Christopher Columbus,”76 While “social controls, discrimination, and occasional arrests” are part of the landscape, “Cuba’s new spiritual dynamic includes rapid casas cultos growth, evangelistic missions, relief work, and community development.”77
Patrick Johnstone and Jason Mandryk provide a good description of the local awakening. Even with the Papal visit,
Evangelicals now outnumber church-going Catholics. The 1,250 evangelical congregations in 1990 has increased to possibly 4,500 congregations and a possible 10,000 house groups in 54 denominations. A high proportion of the new Christians are young people.78
There is no known work among the Hindu population. This provides a significant
potential workforce to reach their peers with the Gospel through prayer and personal
evangelism.79
Proposed Strategy
The goal of this project is to bring the Good News to Cuban Hindus so that individual souls may be saved who will join with other Christians in new or existing casas cultos where they will grow, mature, and in turn, will merge with others to create la iglesia within communities; all ultimately self-governing, self-replicating, and self-sustaining. This work must be sensitive to the Hindu lifestyle, allowing development of la iglesia that is both biblical and indigenous to their culture.
We will consider five fundamental principles to reach this goal: (1) let the Holy Spirit lead; (2) while short-term workers may be interested volunteers, permanent workers must be called by the Spirit; (3) Cuban Christians, especially Christian Hindus, should be sought and encouraged to enlist in this mission; (4) individuals are won to Christ, not people groups; (5) the Gospel is always confrontational to the unsaved of any race, gender, creed, or other designator.
Principle 1
The Holy Spirit provides salvation for repentant sinners, and guidance and power for the saved. The Spirit, and the Spirit alone, is the program chairman, chief planning officer, and chief operating officer. The Spirit-Christian interface is one of prayer, fasting, and immersion in the Word of God (John 16:13): it is obedience to the Holy Spirit.
Principle 2
The Spirit is the leader and the job of the worker is to provide a human intersection with the unsaved, in this case the Cuban Hindu population. Short-term workers may be volunteers from the outside or Cuba. Permanent workers must be called by the Spirit (Eph 4:11).
Principle 3
Throughout the process, Cuban Christians, especially Hindu Christians and others familiar with the people group should be recruited, evaluated, and trained, initially through the mission board transitioning to a local organization. Workers should be “sent-out” in pairs into the Hindu community to begin their work (Luke 10:1), returning with feedback not only on successes and failures, but on Christian families willing to host house churches (Lu 10:17).
Principle 4
The format for personal evangelism should take note of Jesus’ approach with Nicodemus, the Pharisee, in John 3, and his very different one with the Samarian woman at the well in John 4. Whatever information field work provides will not overrule this essential principle. All workers must be open to the leadership of the Spirit as they individually (or in pairs) witness to individual Cuban Hindus. While preaching may become important as house churches are developed, broadside large-scale Christian evangelistic efforts in India suggest two unwanted outcomes early on: either Christianity is “accepted” and integrated into the pantheon of Hindu gods and religious practice, or the Hindu population led by the religious elite rebel and the outreach is bought to a sudden end (Mark 6:12). We also note here that Paul selected strategic points from which the churches he planted would naturally reach out and draw in people from that province.80
Principle 5
The Gospel is confrontational (Matt 10:34), but resolution through salvation brings an enduring peace that “passeth all understanding” (Phil 4:7). If Christianity is “accepted” and integrated into the pantheon, the effort has failed. The God of creation is not one of the myriad of Hindu god-possibles. Jesus Christ did not come to be one with the world, but to call the lost of the world to repentance (Lu 19:10). If the general Hindu population rebels against the Christian message, individuals can still be reached. The scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees railed against Jesus, but He continued to deal with the multitudes, one soul at a time. Two points must be constantly emphasized: the essentials of the Gospel must not be compromised or adulterated by co-mingling with local beliefs in order to “ease” the unsaved into salvation (Ex 34:14), and non-essential “gospel” of Western denominationalism must not be imposed on the new culture.
The operating system will be based upon a modified “strategy of the single method,” suggested by Larry Pate,81 and refined by Porfirio Rodriguez: this approach “understands the situation and the people,” and offers a “unique method” to achieve the goals for that project. It is one that “plans for every situation.”82 We will construct five practices upon the principles that are not necessarily serial but overlapping.83
The first is evangelizing the lost. This requires preparation, planning, and execution that is empathetic and sensitive to the needs of each individual. In this project, preparation and planning are integrated into a cycle of field work that includes integration into the Hindu community led by local Christians; collecting information through short-term probes into the island population to locate and define the parameters of the Hindu population as plans are developed for a permanent work; and seeking Hindu Christians to mentor and enlist in this work. This should be planned in waves to return data for analysis and refinement of following probes. When workers are identified, training should begin that introduces the basic Christian principles and a plan of action presented. All phases include feedback and re-evaluation of successes and failures to improve and fine-tune the work as well as to communally seek the leadership and blessing of the Spirit (John 20:21).
The second is discipling new believers. This involves preparation on the part of the mission board and the witness. Witnesses must be trained in the scripture and be able to associate themselves or other Christians with new converts. Ideally this is a process that begins with casas cultos with strong early support from the mission crew, leading to larger groups where the Word is preached as regularly as possible. Converts should never be abandoned. Each should always have a comfortable refuge to find support in which the leader is careful not to allow the convert to “put him in the place of Christ.”84 The goal of this close attention is to encourage spiritual growth in the convert and train him to be an effective replicating witness. Preparation for baptism with all that entails should be a developmental priority.
The third is training pastors and lay leaders. This includes the many things that these leaders need to live successful Christian lives and to transfer that lifestyle through the work of the Spirit to their flocks. This is time consuming and requires dedication and resources from the mission board as well as the student.
The fourth is church planting. As local conditions and the size and number of casas cultos increases, churches should be formed, supported by the mission board at whatever level is necessary, with a clear intent of ultimate local operation and control. William A. Smalley agrees that indigenous churches should be “self-governing, self-supporting, and self-propagating.” He warns, however, that to many in the Western missionary movement, the “self” in these terms is compromised by the projection of Western thought that is more cultural than biblical, reminding us of the questions that led to the Jerusalem Conference (cf. Acts 15). He suggests that missions provide support but stand apart from the movement. He states that indigenous churches “cannot be founded,” but must be spontaneously generated.85 The basic concept of indigenous churches is central to this project, but we disagree with his theory of the spontaneous generation of Christians and their churches. If this theory were true, the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) would be unnecessary
The fifth is mobilization of the Hindu Christian community as witnesses for their Christ. Every Christian, every casas cultos, every church should, early on, become active evangelists. The Great Commission is for all Christians, and the recent history of the Cuban evangelical church shows how effective they are in proclaiming the message of salvation.
The many unknowns in this project is a bit daunting from an American perspective. We want every “I” dotted and every “T” crossed, but this is not necessarily God’s plan. Jonah certainly did not enter Nineveh with a full-blown plan (cf. Jonah 1-4) but ended up following the directions of the Holy Spirit, even if reluctantly, and found success on the Spirit’s terms.86 Paul’s missionary trips did not employ anything resembling Western planning: he often altered his path to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit.87
As the strategy states, plans must have purpose founded in the goal, yet be dynamic, with applications updated as necessary by new data, feedback, and results. One prominent factor that has the potential to change the entire project is the unknown status of the 7 thousand Christian Hindus living in Cuba according to the Joshua Project.88 Initial research “on the ground” may find that these Christians are well organized and fully functioning as both la iglesia and as witnesses within their own group.
Initially, local Christians and mission workers under the guidance of the mission board will be used to locate and survey this community, collecting data and identifying parameters as tools to develop a dynamic plan to reach these people, and to develop training and educational outlets. Mission board support will include the initial initiative, planning, and implementation support, training and education, financial seed money and other occasional assistance as needed, all with an intent to develop national workers and support leading to self-sufficiency where the mission board becomes a consultant and support, developing training and educational opportunities for the development of local leaders.
In the absence of local information, we look to the Hindu population in India and their relationship with the West where “the changing sociological structure of Indian society is as important to grasp as Hindu religious attitudes,” according to Richland. While studies show that individualism is on the rise within the Hindu ranks, they “remain deeply relational.”89 Richland suggests that,
rather than calling the individual out of family and caste, the gospel needs to be spread over the bridges of God that are present in caste communications. Instead of calling people to the finished product of Western Christianity, the good news of the power and grace of God in Christ needs to be presented in terms and forms that are meaningful to Hindus.90
The terminology must be clearly understood. A “finished product of Western Christianity” carries the connotation of a church transplanted from “back home” so that the resulting organization is comfortable to American missionaries. The intent of this proposal is to develop la iglesia as contextualized local entities that do not necessarily resemble that “church back home,” but it is essential that fundamental Christian precepts are not compromised into some sort of hybrid Hindu-Christian entity. The polytheistic nature of Hinduism accepts Jesus as one of a pantheon of gods, but not as the sole God. This path does not and cannot lead to salvation. It is anti-Scriptural. The singular deity of the God of Creation (Ex 20:2-4), the sinful nature of all men (Rom 5:12), the guilt of individual sin (Rom 3:23), redemption through Jesus Christ who is God the Son (John 3:16-17), cannot be melded into Hindu religious practice (Deut 6:4). They are mutually exclusive. To achieve this, local Hindu Christians should be integrated into planning and operation as early as possible. Practical leadership development is essential.
Anecdotal data collected from “the field,” will be used to design additional short-term probes to collect more rigorous data. Concurrently, partners will be sought among converted Cuban Hindus and other Christians to carry out the long-term work. The lack of data is not a fatal flaw, but a reminder that reaching lost souls is the work of the Holy Spirit (cf. Matt 28:18-20) who will prevail (Acts 19:20).
Due to the proximity of Cuba to the U.S., and the dynamic church within Cuba, both sources will be used for the short-term mission work that includes the initial survey and contact activities. Roger Peterson suggests that short-term missional forays that are purpose-driven and Spirit led are useful, but that “four of every five short-termers” are targeted to the “already churched or reached people groups.”91 He suggests a three-fold regimen for short-term missions (STM):
3. Re-designate “short-term mission trips,” to “short-term missions. Instead of a field trip, each is a mission has a goal, a plan to implement that goal, the resources to accomplish the goal, and a review plan to assess success and improve the next STM.92
As a final note, this project is a spiritual outreach to the lost souls of the Hindu population of Cuba. It is not a social, economic, or political rescue mission. As C. Peter Wagner muses, “While we must not neglect the social responsibility, in my opinion, we must never let it get in the way of soul-winning evangelism.”93
Conclusion
At the risk of deviating from the formal requirements to develop a plan to evangelize a well-documented people group, the obvious needs of this overlooked group calls for attention. The eternal souls of some 35 thousand Cuban Hindus are at risk: over 780 Cuban Hindus die each day without Christ.94 It also illustrates that front-end data is valuable but not essential if considered in the planning. The only “givens” in this project is that there is an overall Hindu population of 35 thousand, of whom. Although some research shows that the current “revival today reaches across the western Christian world and far beyond it,” it also carries a warning: “The boom of the ‘new religious movements’ does not supplant the secular movement, but rather intersects with it.”95
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