Pastoral Interventions During the Pandemic

“Not even the most imaginative novelist could have imagined the world created by the coronavirus pandemic. The face of the church also changed radically, challenging it to reinvent itself. In this volume, South African scholars meet these theological, practical, pastoral, liturgical, and institutional challenges from a Pentecostal perspective. They concentrate on the various dimensions of spirituality and pastoral care in the 'virtual church.'  The work contributes to rethinking the 'new normal' of the post-Covid-19 church."
—Marius Nel, Research Chair - Ecumenism: Pentecostalism and Neo-Pentecostalism, North West University, South Africa

"A very relevant book! And another opportunity for people living in the North to learn from the South. The South African churches are doing a great job in the midst of a difficult economic situation."
—Volker Kessler, Gesellschaft für Bildung und Forschung in Europa, Germany

This book provides an interdisciplinary exploration of the challenges faced by pastoral ministry in South African Pentecostalism as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as some interventions being made to manage these challenges. Contributors present descriptive approaches to churches’ reactions to lockdown measures, and especially the adaptations generated within Pentecostalism in South Africa. Through a variety of approaches—including pastoral care, virtual ecclesiology, social media, and missiology—contributors offer intervention techniques which can help readers to understand the unique role of Christian ministry during the pandemic, in South Africa and beyond.

Mookgo Solomon Kgatle is Professor at the University of South Africa. He is a National Research Foundation (NRF) Y Rated researcher (2019-2024) in the area of African Pentecostalism. Additionally, he is the visiting scholar at the Centre for Pentecostal and Charismatic Studies-University of Birmingham (2020-2022) and foundingPresident of the Southern African Society for Pentecostal Studies.

Collium Banda is extraordinary research fellow at North-West University, South Africa, and adjunct lecturer at the Theological College of Zimbabwe. He is an emerging researcher with interests in African Pentecostalism, Christian doctrines in the African public space, African traditional religions, African indigenous knowledge systems and Christianity in African contexts.