1. What are the most burning issues you are facing regarding the role of the churches in your society? 

One of the most burning issues is the economic situation that is affecting our Country and our Churches. We have been suffering  50 years of an unjust blockade from the USA administration that affects the life of our people in a very deep way.

Our churches are growing and we are going , step by step, to be transformed in a pluralist society. The presence now in our country of the Greek Orthodox Church and the Russian Ortodox Church with the building of their cathedrals constitute a great blessing for our country.

 We have now many new people in our congregations.   For this reason we need more and more to develop courses of ecumenical formation in our churches because  we have a strong movement of denominationalism that oppose very much the ecumenical movement in our country,

It is important the roles of our Cuban churches in Mission: We try to work interrelating the following roles or functions:

 - A liturgical function- which is at the same time an intercession function. Worship and prayers. Devotion and Spirituality.

 - A soteriological function-Consisting in taking the Lord and Savior message to our people through evangelization and teaching.

 - A koinonic function-which corresponds to a church that is known by the communion and solidarity of its members.

 - A prophetic function- combining biblical-theological perspectives with scientific-social approaches in searching for justice, equity and liberation.

 - A diaconal function- through which the church manifests its call  to serve following the footsteps of   the Servant-King.

 - A stewardship function: by which it gives testimony of the Kingdom to the "whole inhabited Earth", as well as seeks and keeps the "unity of the Spirit" in this extraordinary enterprise.

One of our main problems today is the need  for scholarship funds to prepare our church leaders with an excellent academic approach and  pastoral commitment . We consider our church leaders as "social agents" for personal, ecclesial and social transformation . This approach is very central in our ecumenical formation today.

To empower people as social agents we are developing an eccumenical diaconía that is reconciling, compassionate, transformative, justice seeking, prophetic. 

2. How can the fellowship of member churches support the churches in the situation you are facing?

We live in a context of unequal distribution of power and resources including within the ecumenical family itself, and we need to search for a just and equitable sharing of resources as one of the strongest biblical imperative.  The present context calls us to dare create an inter-faith and inter-religious diaconía for the sake of the whole oikoumene.

We hope that the fellowship of  member churches continue to help us to overcome the USA blockade against our country that is affecting our churches too as part of our society. The new administration under president Obama could  do that.

In the middle of our difficulties our churches mantain their faith and an incredible hope that enrich the daily life of our people. Their lives are transformed by the power of the Gospel. Our love for the Word of God in our Bibles and the spirituality that support our lives with a renewed and participatory  liturgy full of joy, guided us to work hard in diaconal projects  that empower many leaders that work in the civil society. Acts 2:: 46 ,47. These christian experiences are the treasure that we could share with our fellowship.