Children's Bible Ministry in Guanabacoa, Cuba — December 2022 Update

A Joyful Return

After a four-year absence from Cuba, largely due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was a delight to return with an Outreach Foundation team and reconnect with our beloved Presbyterian family there. We arrived at the Presbyterian Church in Guanabacoa in time to share in the Wednesday morning prayer service, led by Rev. Yoelkis Sierra and one of the elders, who brought a message on Acts 3:2 — the lame man carried to the temple each day to beg. This question followed: do we see the needs of our neighbors? The congregation has answered that question by providing “meals on wheels” to the poor and elderly in their community and by joining with the local municipality to renovate a run-down playground for local children.

Children's Bible Ministry - May 2022 Update

For 121 years, the Presbyterian Church in this working-class suburb of Havana has given faithful witness to the Good News. Like many churches in Cuba, it developed ministries unique to its context, such as one that served those diagnosed with AIDS who were often shunned by their families and communities.

When its current pastor, Rev. Yoelkis Sierra, began to explore the surrounding neighborhood, he quickly discerned that there were many young children whose families had no connection to the church. He and his leaders began to pray about how this might present the congregation with new opportunities to make Christ known.

Children's Bible Ministry in Guanabacoa, Cuba - March 2021 Update

The Children’s Bible Ministry of the Reformed Presbyterian Church in Guanabacoa, Cuba, began as a pastor’s dream shared with a group of visiting American missionaries from Thomasville, Georgia. Guanabacoa, a suburb of Havana, is a poor but proud and bustling community teeming with young families with children. Pastor Yoelkis Sierra Gonzalez knows this neighborhood well, and he saw firsthand the great need for a safe place for young children while their parents are at work. Pastor Yoelkis imagined the day when his church would welcome those children, feed and care for them, and teach them about Jesus.

Now, nearly three years later, Pastor Yoelkis’ dream is becoming a reality. Soon after the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, construction began on the building that will house this ministry, and fall 2020 was set as the projected launch date. Unfortunately, the plan and timetable did not factor in the effect of a worldwide pandemic.

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