Castro’s revolution of 1959 introduced communism to Cuba, and religion was frowned on. Church attendance waned and those who wanted to get ahead made sure they didn’t profess to having a religion. But thanks to recent social and political reforms, Cubans are now more open about their spiritual beliefs. Members of the Communist Party are allowed to attend church and to profess their Christian faith. With this new freedom, many are looking under the hood spiritually. They’re  reconnecting with their faith and   looking to the Bible for answers.

“We’re living through excep-tional times in Cuba,” reports Alain Hernandez Montano, Biblical Commission of Cuba (BCC). “The church is growing at an accelerated pace. But we’re faced with a great challenge: a shortage of Bibles.”

There are no official statistics on church growth, but some place it at 10 to 25 per cent per annum. Papal visits in 1998 and 2012 were another factor that helped stir the faith of Cubans. When Pope John Paul II and then Pope Benedict XVI went to Cuba, it was an important signal at different levels, spurring the unchurched to renew their commitment.

BCC estimates that there are now one million Catholics and 900,000 Protestants actively practising their faith in Cuba.  Bible study groups (casas de mision) are sprouting throughout the island nation of 11 million people. Christians are ready and waiting to delve into God’s word.   

But finance is a major hindrance.  Poverty remains high in Cuba and buying anything new is a dream for most. This, and the church’s rapid growth, have left a good number of the Cuban faithful with no Bibles of their own. It’s estimated that this number is as high as 40 per cent of believers.

Churches in Cuba say they need one million Bibles to meet demand, and several Bible Societies have taken up the challenge of meeting this need. A team from Bible Society Norway visited Cuba a few months ago and were amazed at what they saw. As Bible Mission Director Bernt Olsen travelled around the nation he was constantly faced with the incredible shortage. “There was a Bible group where everyone gathered around one Bible,” he reports.

Bible Society Australia invites you to help meet the need for one million Bibles. With your help, Bibles will be given to new believers and to those who can’t afford one. They’ll also be distributed through a variety of projects reaching churches, prisons, schools, libraries and pastors in seminaries.

Joel Ortega Dopico, President of the Cuban Council of Churches, says this is an interesting time in his nation’s history. “It’s a special moment, a moment of awakening, a time when the church is growing in a way that can only happen through God’s spirit, as he did back in those early days of the church. We are living the word of God where it says that ‘every day the Lord is adding to the church those who are being saved’.”

If you’d like to help a nation on the mend, and provide its people with the building blocks for growth, please help to send one million Bibles to Cuba.