EFFECTS OF COVID-19-PANDEMIC LOCKDOWN OF CHURCHES IN NIGERIA ON PASTORAL MINISTRY: MATTERS ARISING

Abstract

Many churches and other public places in Nigeria and other places throughout the world experienced lockdown as result of the ravaging COVID-19 pandemic. These affected church activities and pastoral ministry of many church pastors greatly. In response to this lockdown and its negative effects, many pastors in Nigeria start to explore other ways to perform their pastoral ministry to their church members. This study explores how pastors are performing their pastoral ministry to their church members during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Some open-ended questions were sent randomly to some pastors through WhatsApp Messenger. The pastors responded either by WhatsApp or email. There were further correspondences with some of the respondents through WhatsApp and phone calls. The findings of the study revealed that while some of the respondents were still using some of the old traditional means of pastoral ministry during the lockdown, many pastors have started adapting to the current situation by exploring other possible means to perform their pastoral ministry to their church members. One prominent means is Internet ministry. Many of the respondents bear their minds on how pastors can respond productively to the situation. Some recommendations and suggestions for further study are made at the end of the paper. KEYWORDS: Nigerian church, pastoral ministry, COVID-19 pandemic, Internet ministry, lockdown