The Cuba Partnership Resource Manual
Brief History of PC(USA) Cuba Partnership Network
Last Updated (Thursday, 24 February 2011 18:13) Written by Rev. Tricia Lloyd Sidle Thursday, 24 February 2011 18:10
BRIEF HISTORY OF PC (USA) CUBA PARTNERSHIP NETWORK
This historical summary does not chronicle the efforts of individual
presbyteries and congregations from the mid-1980s nor the history
of individual presbytery, local congregational or organizational
relationships within the Network. It rather seeks to summarize
the history of self-conscious organized cooperative structure and effort.
1986
Officials of the two Presbyterian Churches that had reunited in 1983 to
form the PC (USA) traveled to Cuba for a consultation with officials of
the Presbyterian Reformed Church in Cuba (IPRC). A Joint Mission
Agreement was drafted and later approved by the General Assemblies
of both the PC (USA) and the IPRC.
* The Joint Mission Agreenent provided for the creation of partnership
relationships between presbyteries of the two denominations and called
for the creation of guidelines to that end.
June 1995
A Partnership Consultation in Havana brought together for the first time
Cuban Church leaders with denominational officials and representatives
of the then-four PC (USA) Partner Presbyteries (Long Island with Havana,
South Louisiana with Matanzas, Transylvania with Centro, and Santa Fe
with the Synod.) This was the first time that the PC (USA) Partner Presbyteries
had been invited to participate in an official Partnership Consultation. Thus,
it was the first time that persons responsible for those partnerships met each
other face to face.
June 1996
Participants from the four partner presbyteries that had been involved in
the June 1995 Havana Consultation organized the Presbyterian Cuba Connection
and chartered it as a not-for-profit charitable corporation in the State of
New Mexico. The purposes were: to raise awareness in the PC (USA) of the
life and mission of the IPRC; to publish an occasional newsletter; and to
gather contributions from members to support the mission and ministry
of the IPRC. Individual Presbyterians and Mission Committees of
presbyteries and congregations are members.
1998
A Partnership Consultation was called in Louisville to review progress toward
the goals of the 1986 Mutual Mission Agreement. Though representatives of
some of the partner presbyteries asked to be included, the Consultation was
limited to officials of the two denominations. Among the issues and agreements
dealt with at that time were:
* The IPRC representatives requested that all PC (USA) contacts with the
Christian Center for Reflection and Dialogue be through the IPRC Synod Council
* Recognizing the growing number of relationships between congregations
of the two denominations, it was agreed that the Mission Agreement would
include the recognition of such partnerships.
* In a discussion of the transfer of monetary support from the PC (USA) to
the IPRC, the issue of what entities would be entitled to use the Treasury
Department license held by PC (USA) and how funds from entities other that
PC (USA) General Assembly should be transferred and reported was a major item.
* Recognizing that the PC (USA) insistence on only one PC (USA) partner for
each IPRC presbytery and the termination of partnership agreements after
5 years had created both ill-will and misunderstandings, it was agreed that both
these policies would be changed.
November 2000
A Celebration of Mission Partnership for the New Millennium was held
in Cuba in memory of Katherine Gladfelter who had died not long before.
She was the great jefa of the Board of National Missions, responsible for
Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Hispanic Southwest. Some 28 representatives of
PC (USA) denominational offices and partner presbyteries participated.
There was a deliberate attempt to broaden the base to include entities other
than those; Daniel Rodriguez represented McCormick Seminary and two
from a Houston congregation, in addition to Jerry VanMarter of Presbyterian
News Service were included.
* All the participants met together at the Synod Camp, CANIP with a roughly
equal number of Cuban partners, and then divided into three groups to visit
the partner Cuban presbyteries..
* A good report of this experience exists in the stories of the Presbyterian News Service
and an article in the Presbyterian Cuba Connection Newsletter.
* Carlos Emilio Ham, then the General Secretary of the IPRC, commented that:
"It will never be the same again; that it will be just denominational officials
getting together."
* The concept of "a partnership of partners" was articulated for the first
time to describe the
* emerging reality of a more self-conscious cooperative entity among the partners.
* there was a recognition that this new reality led to the need for new patterns of
communication, new lines of financial accountability, new commitment
to transparency and cooperation.
September 2002
The first US based Cuba Partners Gathering was held in Washington DC in
order to have a focus on public policy issues. There were good briefings
from the religious organizations in Washington that work on public policy
ducation and advocacy, but participants were disappointed when a
promised visit to the Cuba Interests Section was canceled. Dora Arce
represented the IPRC in this Gathering of the PC (USA) Partners.
Emphases included:
* welcome to the Rev. Tricia Lloyd-Sidle as Mission Co-Worker for Cuba
* the Biblical grounding and practical implications of "mutuality in mission"
* financial relations as both a blessing and a threat to such mutuality
* implications of the "partnership of partners" for mutual communication
and cooperation
September 2003
We met again in Chicago with a mix of experienced and new partners present,
which presented new requirements for planning and content for Partnership
Gatherings. Dora Arce met with us again. The meeting included:
* the presentation of a Partnership Resource Packet prepared by Tricia
and Dean Lewis
* the preliminary organization of the Yahoo-based Cuba Partners
Communication and Resource System
* More discussion about money contributions and transfers, with the plea
that all partner contributions go to Cuba (1) under the authority of the
PC (USA) license; (2) through the IPRC Synod Council; and (3) with
communication to other PC (USA) Cuba Partners.
* discussion of a proposal that the Cuba Partners Network consider
the cooperative support of larger projects of the IPRC and Seminary
from time to time. A Partners over thirty membership Gathering met
at the Evangelical Theological Seminary (SET) in Matanzas, with
presentatives of PC (USA) partners meeting with a similar number of IPRC
January 2004
A Symposium on the Biblical-Theological-Pastoral Bases of Partnership
was held at the Bucaranao resort hotel east of Havana. This was at least
partly in response to a request made by representatives of the IPRC in
earlier gatherings. Seven papers by participants from both the PV (US)
and IPRC were prepared and circulated in advance, with response to
each also prepared in advance, followed by group discussion. The
Symposium was punctuated by periods of worship led alternately
by PC (USA) and IPRC representatives.
* The Symposium was conducted entirely in Spanish, without translation, a first.
* The papers and responses were published later, both in the original Spanish
and in English translation.
A quantity of the Symposium publication still exists, and the issue of how
this important bi-lingual resource can be used is an important one.
OCTOBER 2004
* The presence of a number of Cuban representatives who had not
participated in previous partnership gatherings broadened the exposure
of Cuban partners to some of the complexities and issues of partnership.
* There was a significant focus on issues of equity in the PC (USA)-IPRC partnership
system: some of the Cuban congregations get overwhelmed while some get few if
any partnership commitments or visits. While this has some relationship to issues of
equitable access to financial resources, the dimensions of the problem were seen to
to as much in matters of solidarity as in relation to resources.
* The IPRC representatives emphasized a matter of concern voiced on earlier
occasions: too many of the visitors from the PC (USA) arrive with little
preparation to understand either the history of Cuban Presbyterianism,
the present issues they face, or the Cuban reality in which they minister.
* Issues of mutuality were addressed in many ways: the importance of
transparency and trust; the danger of missionary paternalism; the
possibility of a new Cuban church dependency, etc.
OCTOBER 2006
The PC (USA) Cuba Partners gathered in Louisville with three Cuban
representatives, who later visited partners in the PC (USA). The three
were: Daniel Izquierdo, Xiomara Arenas, and Carlos Camps. It was
recognized that the presence of IPRC officials from each of the three
Cuban presbyteries was exceptionally important, though the increasing
restrictions on visas for Cuban visitors makes such representation
difficult to secure. In light of the increasing number of congregational
members of the PC (USA) Cuba Partners Network, it was noted that
people in the congregational partnerships often do not understand
"partnership" in terms beyond their congregational involvement, they
don't have a sense of the larger church partnership system or
commitment to it. This was noted as the "Lone Ranger Syndrome."
* Deepening partnership relationships was deemed an important priority
* The Cuba Partners Gathering heard a report about the emergence
of many other Mission Networks in the life of the PC (USA). An official
of the Worldwide Ministries Division had recently declared that "mission
networks are the new face of world mission for the Presbyterian Church (USA).
* Recognizing that this new reality called for new intentionality and
coherence on the part of the mission networks in relation to the PC (USA),
the Cuba Partners Gathering was challenged to a new Vision for the Network: '
a healthy, wholistic and coherent system; an integrated partnership of partners
in connectional relationship to the Presbyterian Church(USA."
* As a step toward implementing that vision, the 2006 Partners Gathering
named a Cuban Network Steering Committee, composed of Lucy Fetterolf,
Glenn Dixon, Dean Lewis, Muriel Miller, John Walter, and Tricia Lloyd-Sidle
to consider agenda for Partners' Gatherings and make recommendations for
cooperative work and structures to serve the new vision.*A recommendation
was made that each member of the PC (USA) Cuba Partners' Network make
an annual contribution to the budget of the IPRC Synod. The Synod has
important responsibilities, but most PC (USA)-IPRC partnerships are
between presbyteries and congregations so the Synod receives little
financial support.
* An offering for the Presbyterian Cuba Connection was received at the
closing worship service as a symbol of the connectional unity of the PC
(USA) Cuba Partners' Network.
Rev. Tricia Lloyd Sidle
Mission Co-worker for Cuba