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Cuba Partnership

Spanish Presbyterian Logo
Since the spring of 2000, First Presbyterian Church has built a sister relationship with Sancti Spiritus Presbyterian Church in Sancti Spiritus (El Centro Presbytery) in Cuba's Central Province — a relationship that has helped us share political and cultural realities as well as our ministries. During the past three years, First Church has sent more than twenty adults and teens to work with Cuban churches on partnership-in-mission trips, visiting vegetable farms and cattle farm projects and meeting with numerous church congregations.
Cuba Farm
Our visits to Cuba have deepened our understanding of the faith journeys of our brothers and sisters there. We have recorded interviews with national leaders in the Cuban Presbyterian Church, as well as with women church leaders about their ministries to provide hot meals, laundry services, and clothing repair to the indigent elderly. Together, we continue to affirm our partnership goals, which are to share worship and Bible study, to show support to the Presbyterian Church in Cuba and in Sancti Spiritus by sending educational materials and medicine, and to further understanding between our two congregations.

We think that it seems as though First Presbyterians of Springfield are quite like Cuban Presbyterians in Sancti Spiritus. How? Our two church servicse follow the same outline, their organizational subcommittees are like ours, they use the Book of Order, they attempt to take care of the homeless, and they have music and youth programs.

Other similarities? The number of baseball caps with logos from American teams, the frequent number of Lincoln statues in museums and in parks, statues of John Lennon rather than Nikolai Lenin, large numbers of western tourists (tourism is now one of Cuba's leading industries), western music of rock/rap/classical, stage plays of "Cats" and "Hello Dolly;" the number of printers and electronic hardware and software. We all breathe the same air, we all drink the same water, we all worship the same God. — from comments by Mick Bernasek

Paz El Mundo

"Peace is what is wanted and needed by the world."