Southern Baptist Convention. Home Mission Board

The Home Mission Board began work in Cuba in 1886. Work in the country expanded for about a decade, but by the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, nearly all mission activity had been demoralized. At the close of the war, the Board entered an agreement with the American Baptist Home Mission Society under which the eastern half of Cuba was transferred to the Society and the SBC's Home Mission Board retained the western half. Southern Baptist work in Western Cuba flourished through the 1950s. In 1955, the Home Mission Board's property value exceeded $1.5 million and the Convention reported 508 baptisms in the four provinces of Western Cuba. Initially Fidel Castro was greeted as a liberator and freedom was enjoyed for a time. Religious activities were not abruptly terminated but decrees progressively closed freedom's doors. In April 1965, HMB personnel Herbert Caudill and David Fite, along with fifty-three other leaders, were imprisoned. In February 1969, the Caudill and Fite families returned to the United States. In 1968, the Convention reported ninety churches, 6,667 members, and 161 baptisms.

From the description of Cuba Mission Collection, 1960-1987. (Hudson Valley Community College). WorldCat record id: 731025389

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