EVERETT — Two weeks ago, while pastor Ken Long motored along 5TA, Avenida Hacia in Havana, Cuba, he and his friends took a moment to pray as they passed the residence of Fidel Castro.
“We prayed for their country and the political climate, that the Lord would open the doors,” Long said.
Last week, Fidel Castro announced he would step down as president of Cuba.
Long, the senior pastor at Northshore Christian Church in Everett for four years, was visiting Cuba to renew deep ties with evangelical Christians that live under constant scrutiny by the state.
“Usually we communicate by e-mail, but all their e-mail is monitored,” Long said. “We’d love to know what is happening there right now, but we realize that any e-mail that is political will compromise them.”
Long’s trip was part of an outreach to gauge the strength of the Cuban church and to re- establish ties to Los Pinos Nuevos, “The New Pines,” a church and seminary in which he has faith.
“We find ourselves going down there to be an encouragement to the leaders of the church, taking 80 pounds of medicine, asthma equipment, a projector and other multimedia equipment,” Long said. “That was the nature of the trip; to take down some much-needed supplies and encourage them and other pastors that are in crisis mode, and to help them out financially. They literally have no denominational support in Cuba.”
Cuban churches are for the most part low-key and, depending on what neighborhood one lives in, may be little more than a service in someone’s house.
“You can practice faith openly, but there is a constant threat and oppression from government involvement or interference in the local community,” Long said. “Whether the church thrives or not is usually up to the local official. Some communities have sympathetic officials, but those who don’t have problems.”
One church he visited had a day care that was considered a boon for the parents who work long hours for meager pay.
“Because that day care was getting used, it got shut down by the government,” Long said. “Some of the things they deal with politically we cannot imagine.”
Long plans on returning to Cuba this September during a national conference of Cuban pastors, to explore future possibilities to finance churches. Yet even with increased funds, the oppression may continue despite the recent regime change.
“It’s always been that way with the church, that when there is persecution that the believers prevailed,” Long said. “The Bible says, ‘I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.’ I believe that is evident in Cuba.”
Reporter Justin Arnold: 425-339-3432 or jarnold@heraldnet.com.
More info
To learn more about Everett’s Northshore Christian Church or to make a charitable donation to Cuban relief efforts, call the church at 425-407-1119.
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