83,000 Bibles Sent to Cuba to Keep Up With ‘Incredible’ Growth of Christianity
ICC Note:
The Cuban government opened its doors to a huge shipment of Bibles. For a land known for its repression of Christianity this is a miraculous answer to prayer.
By Samuel Smith
3/22/2015 Cuba (Christian Post)-A shipment of 83,723 Spanish-language Bibles are headed for Cuba and will be distributed to a number of Southern Baptist churches in both Western and Eastern parts of the island nation, SBC’s International Mission Board announced this week.
IMB, which is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, announced that the shipment of three 40-foot containers filled with Bibles left from the ports of South Florida and is being distributed this week to various churches throughout Cuba. The announcement added that the Bibles will arrive in the capital of Havana on March 25.
The shipment is the third since 1999 that Southern Baptists have sent to Cuba and have sent nearly 500,000 Bibles in total, IMB strategy leader for Cuba, Kurt Urbanek, said in a media statement.
Urbanek added that this shipment is the first that will be shipped directly from the United States, saying that clearance was provided in late 2014.
“The extensive process of seeking permission from the Cuban government to ship Bibles required a great deal of negotiation with government officials and the Cuban Bible Society,” Urbanek explained in the release. “We are grateful the Cuban government opened the doors for the Bibles.”
Since the Cuban government amended its Constitution in 1992, declaring it a secular state, instead of an atheist state, religious activities have been given room to grow and flourish.
“The growth is so incredible, that’s why Bibles are so important,” Urbanek said.
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