Pastoral Care and the Temporality of Crisis: New Zealand Churches and the Covid Pandemic

This paper analyses the pastoral dynamics of ‘crisis time’ – the temporalities of crisis as an unfurling and dynamic process – in relation to church leaders during the Covid-19 pandemic in New Zealand. Through detailed case studies we explore three temporalities: interruption, fragmentation, and aftermath. We show that attention to these temporalities enables a better understanding of crisis dynamics and the pastoral demands placed on church leaders.