Holiday Road

Today is Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the USA. It is a federal holiday, as the entire nation commemorates and celebrates the life of the late Baptist pastor and civil rights leader. The MLK holiday has taken on an extra-special significance this year, as it is being celebrated just one day prior to the inauguration of Barack Obama as the first African-American President of the United States.

The MLK holiday also means a 3-day or 4-day weekend for most Americans, depending on whether they're also taking Inauguration Day off, too, as many are doing this year because of the historic occasion. As a result, though, many churches probably had lighter-than-usual attendance on Sunday in the USA, as many folks were probably away for the long weekend. Let's face it: that's the way it is with long weekends, no matter where you are doing church or ministry in the world.

Here in Peru, though, we face a double whammy of sorts when it comes to long weekends, as we have to deal with both Peruvian holidays as well as American holidays. Why in the world should we care about USA holidays when we are here in Peru? Because many of our members at FRC-Lima work for the US Embassy, and several others work for USA-based multinational corporations, and the US Embassy and many of the USA-based multinats observe both Peruvian and American holidays. That means twice as many days off for their workers, which is obviously a great thing for them. But it also means twice as many Sundays at FRC-Lima when people may be escaping us to worship God at the beach or in the mountains or in the countryside.

That's just the way it is for us here in Lima. It's just something that we have to deal with. It may or may not be the same wherever in the world that you are doing ministry, but it would be wise for you to invest in a local calendar, and familiarize yourself with the local holidays, wherever you are doing ministry in the world, and you should also check to see if it's common for embassies or multinats or expats in your corner of the world to celebrate their own local holidays as well, just to make sure that you don't schedule a major event or outreach on a day or weekend when everyone is going to be out of town. A quick look at the local calendar, or a quick look at an embassy or multinat website, or even a quick question to your church members or ministry associates, may save you a whole lot of scheduling headaches down the line.