Story number 1 for 24 Apr 2000

Headlining today’s news, as the Elian Gonzalez saga continues, the Cuban church is largely ignoring it. International Christian Concern’s Steven Snyder just returned from that country. He says by in large the church is silent on the Elian issue. “In general the church had no real opinion about it because it was not a religious issue. The leadership of the church is focused on their task and I was quite impressed with that, that they don’t get involved in the political issues.” While the church is ignoring Elian, it’s not ignoring evangelism. Snyder says the church has seen a 30-percent increase in membership, which is causing some problems. “Most of the growth is occurring in house churches because the government does not allow the building of any new churches. Christians are having to meet in homes when they start growing, the government often comes in and says you must close it down or risk having your property taken away from you. And, so this is still a problem that’s on-going in Cuba, but it has not stopped the church from growing.”