Responding to imposed online communication in the church: reconstructing pastoral identity during the COVID-19 crisis

Three exceptionally different countries (The Netherlands, South Korea, and Malta) were investigated to study whether and how a specific national and/or denominational contexts influence pastoral identity because of the necessity of using online communication. We offer a qualitative comparative analysis leading to context-related reconstructions of pastoral identity. Offering a six-level model of pastoral identity reconstruction we make four conclusions: (i) imposed online communication were mutually shaping, thus, pastors responded very fast to and shaped online communication; (ii) the range of tasks and the necessity thereof, changed rapidly as a result of imposed online communication; (iii) cultural components such as expectations, account for some of the differences in our data; and (iv) pastors are aware that the future of the church will be hybrid.