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Pentecostal Ministry During COVID-19 in South Africa: Pastoral Care Perspective

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Pastoral Interventions During the Pandemic

Abstract

The impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) on Pentecostal ministry in South Africa has resulted in some pastoral ministers braving the storm and succeed, some closed ministries and churches, and others were spiritually drained and recovering from being infected and affected by the virus. This chapter aims to illustrate that the Pentecostal ministry during the pandemic became a resilient one regardless of the challenges of COVID-19. The chapter uses the pastoral care perspective to illustrate that some Pentecostal pastors coped with COVID-19 even during the hardest lockdown. The main themes of this chapter shall be Pentecostal ministry and supportive role, Pentecostal ministry and social responsibility, Pentecostal ministry, and ecumenism. The themes are used here to illustrate how Pentecostals’ interventions offer a renewed Pentecostal ministry.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Mookgo Solomon Kgatle, “Religious live-streaming in response to coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown in South Africa,” Verbum et Ecclesia 41, no. 1 (2020): 1–6.

  2. 2.

    Jerry Pillay, “COVID-19 shows the need to make church more flexible,” Transformation 37, no. 4 (2020): 266–275.

  3. 3.

    Mookgo Kgatle, and Allan H. Anderson, eds. The use and abuse of the Spirit in Pentecostalism: A South African perspective. (Abingdon: Routledge, 2020).

  4. 4.

    Allan Anderson, Moya: the Holy Spirit in an African context. Pretoria: University of South Africa, 1991. Cf Vinson Synan, and Amos Yong, eds. Global renewal Christianity: Europe and North America Spirit empowered movements: past, present, and future (Johannesburg: Charisma Media, 2017), 340. Cf Nimi Wariboko, The Pentecostal principle: Ethical methodology in new spirit (Vol. 5. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm.B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2012), 136.

  5. 5.

    Lovemore Togarasei,, ed. Aspects of Pentecostal Christianity in Zimbabwe. (Basel: Springer International Publishing, 2018), 38.

  6. 6.

    Truls Akerlund, A Phenomenology of Pentecostal Leadership (Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2018), 31.

  7. 7.

    Mookgo Solomon Kgatle, “The unusual practices within some Neo-Pentecostal churches in South Africa: Reflections and recommendations,” HTS: Theological Studies 73, no. 3 (2017): 1–8.

  8. 8.

    Allan Heaton Anderson, Spirit-Filled World: Religious Dis/Continuity in African Pentecostalism. Basel: Springer, 2018.

  9. 9.

    Mary Elizabeth O’Brien, Parish nursing: Healthcare ministry within the church, Burlington: Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2003.

  10. 10.

    Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Community serving humanity: Pastoral plan of the Catholic Church Pretoria, (South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, 1989).

  11. 11.

    Pope Paul VI, Evangelization in the modern world (Pretoria, South African Catholic Bishops’ Conference), 1975.

  12. 12.

    Alec Lazenby, “The difference between ‘physical’ and ‘social’ distancing”, 2020 available at https://www.martlet.ca/the-difference-between-physical-and-social-distancing.

  13. 13.

    The COGTA spokesperson is quoted saying: “After wide consultations with the religious sector, government is now in a position to categorise religious counselling as an essential service … This will enable the millions, who have been affected by the virus, to receive this much-needed service, since the majority cannot afford professional attention of this nature.” https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/religious-counselling-now-permitted.

  14. 14.

    DeRebus, “COVID-19 impacting the workplace: Outlining retrenchments in good faith” available at http://www.derebus.org.za/covid-19-impacting-the-workplace-outlining-retrenchments-in-good-faith/, accessed 01 August 2020 cf. Kgatle, “Religious live-streaming” 3.

  15. 15.

    Nivashni Nair, “I have lost half my family to Covid-19,” available at https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-07-22-i-have-lost-half-my-family-to-covid-19/, accessed 22 July 2020.

  16. 16.

    Tanya Farber, “Shocking stats on gender-based violence during lockdown revealed,” available at https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2020-09-01-shocking-stats-on-gender-based-violence-during-lockdown-revealed/, accessed 01 September 2020.

  17. 17.

    Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, “Pentecostalism and Coronavirus: Reframing the Message of Health-and-Wealth in a Pandemic Era,” Spiritus: ORU Journal of Theology 6, no. 1 (2021): 12. CF Asonzeh Ukah, “Prosperity, Prophecy and the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Healing Economy of African Pentecostalism.” Pneuma 42, no. 3–4 (2020): 430–459. Cf Maria Frahm-Arp, “Pneumatology and Prophetic Pentecostal Charismatic Christianity during COVID-19 in South Africa.” In Mookgo Solomon Kgatle and Allan Anderson, The Use and Abuse of the Spirit in Pentecostalism: South African perspective, pp. 150–174. Abingdon: Routledge, 2020.

  18. 18.

    Asamoah-Gyadu, “Pentecostalism and Coronavirus” 12.

  19. 19.

    Paul Ballard, Stephen Pattison, and Emmanuel Y. Lartey. Spiritual dimensions of pastoral care: Practical theology in a multidisciplinary context. (London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2001), 219.

  20. 20.

    Chingarande, Sunungurai D., Juliet Thondhlana, Roda Madziva, and Allan H. Anderson. Matarenda/Talents in Zimbabwean Pentecostalism: Empowerment, Gender and Development in an African Movement. Leiden: Brill, 2021.

  21. 21.

    Ibid., 222.

  22. 22.

    Kgatle, The fourth Pentecostal wave, 85–88.

  23. 23.

    This concept is taken from Genesis 4:1–13 and Mathew 25: 35–36.

  24. 24.

    Allan Anderson, African reformation: African initiated Christianity in the 20th century, (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2001).

  25. 25.

    Ogbu Kalu, “Third Response: Pentecostalism and the Reconstruction of Christian Experience in Africa,” Studiae Historiae Ecclesiasticae (1970): 1–34.

  26. 26.

    Roger Stronstad, “The Prophethood of All Believers: A Study in Luke’s Charismatic Theology,” Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplemental Series, 16 no.1 (1999): 136

  27. 27.

    Kgatle, The Fourth Pentecostal Wave, Ix.

  28. 28.

    Kgatle, The fourth Pentecostal wave, 2.

  29. 29.

    Charles Ringma, “Holistic ministry and mission: A call for reconceptualization,” Missiology 32, no. 4 (2004): 431–448.

  30. 30.

    Kamuha, Musolo W’isuka, “From maintenance Christianity to a holistic and comprehensive understanding of mission: A case study in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo,” (Master of Theology, UNISA, 2008)

  31. 31.

    Allan Heaton Anderson, “Towards a Pentecostal missiology for the majority world,” Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 8, no. 1 (2005): 29–47.

  32. 32.

    Gary McGee, “Power from on High: A historical perspective on the radical strategy in missions,” in Wonsuk Ma & Robert P. Menzies (eds.) Pentecostalism in Context, (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997), pp. 317, 324.

  33. 33.

    Anderson, “Towards a Pentecostal missiology,” 31.

  34. 34.

    Jnr, George Anderson, “Commercialisation of Religion in Neo-Prophetic Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches in Ghana: Christian Ethical Analysis of their Strategies,” Culture and Religion 28 (2017): 3.

  35. 35.

    Jerome Fickel, “The paradox of the fortunate fall in contemporary theology,” Bulletin of the Evangelical Theological Society 2 no.3 (1959): 1–7.

  36. 36.

    James Mahn, Fortunate fallibility: Kierkegaard and the power of sin, (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011).

  37. 37.

    Rusi Jaspal and Marco Cinnirella, “The construction of ethnic identity: Insights from identity process theory,” Ethnicities 12 no.5 (2011):1–28.

  38. 38.

    Vhumani Magezi, and Collium Banda, “Competing with Christ? A critical Christological analysis of the reliance on Pentecostal prophets in Zimbabwe,” In die Skriflig 51, no. 2 (2017): 1–10.

  39. 39.

    Collium Banda, “Complementing Christ? A soteriological evaluation of the anointed objects of the African Pentecostal prophets,” Conspectus: The Journal of the South African Theological Seminary 2018, no. se2 (2018): 55–69.

  40. 40.

    Victor Ezigbo, “Contextualizing the Christ-event: A Christological study of the interpretations and appropriations of Jesus Christ in Nigerian Christianity,” (PhD dissertation. University of Edinburgh, 2008).

  41. 41.

    Anderson, Allan, An introduction to Pentecostalism: Global charismatic Christianity, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 198.

  42. 42.

    Wolfgang Vondey, ed., Pentecostalism and Christian unity: Ecumenical documents and critical assessments, Eudene, Pregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2010 cf. Wolfgang Vondey, Pentecostalism and Christian unity, Volume 2: Continuing and building relationships. Vol. 2. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2013.

  43. 43.

    Johan van der Merwe, “Poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic: A challenge to the church,” HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 76, no. 1 (2020): 6.

  44. 44.

    Amy Green, “COVID-19: Some homeless people choose streets over shelters,” https://www.spotlightnsp.co.za/2020/04/22/covid-19-some-homeless-people-choose-streets-over-shelters/, accessed 22 April 2020.

  45. 45.

    eNCA, SA Lockdown: Pastors protest church closures, https://www.enca.com/news/sa-lockdown-pastors-protest-church-closuresaccessed 22 January 2021.

  46. 46.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volatility,_uncertainty,_complexity_and_ambiguity.

  47. 47.

    Bhekani Shabalala and Cynthia Patel, “The role of praise and worship activities in the spiritual well-being: Perceptions of a Pentecostal youth ministry group,” International Journal of Children’s Spirituality 15 no. 1 (2010): 73–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/13644361003603074.

  48. 48.

    Kgatle, The fourth Pentecostal wave, 56.

  49. 49.

    John Klaasen, “The role of personhood in development: An African perspective on development in South Africa,” Missionalia 45 no. 1 (2017): 29–44.

  50. 50.

    eNCA, “Chief Justice Mogoeng prays against ‘vaccines of the devil’” viewed 10 December 2020 https://www.enca.com/news/chief-justice-mogoeng-prays-against-vaccines-devil.

  51. 51.

    Josiah Taru, Tinashe Chimbidzikai and Benjamin Kirby, “Pentecostals are in a ‘spiritual war’ against coronavirus in Africa—as are some political leaders” viewed 01 May 2020. https://qz.com/africa/1849315/pentecostal-churches-are-in-spiritual-war-vs-coronavirus-covid19/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Theology, University of Fort Hare, Alice, South Africa

    Paul Mngadi

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  1. University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Mookgo Solomon Kgatle

  2. Faculty of Theology, North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa

    Collium Banda

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Mngadi, P. (2022). Pentecostal Ministry During COVID-19 in South Africa: Pastoral Care Perspective. In: Kgatle, M.S., Banda, C. (eds) Pastoral Interventions During the Pandemic. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08034-0_5

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