The Lived Experiences of Filipino Pastors in Online Ministry Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic: A Phenomenological Study

Psychology, Sociology

A ministry is not a job but a privilege. Many researchers have been interested in identifying the concept and significance of church ministry in pastors' lives. It has been widespread since the beginning of Christianity throughout the whole world. Thus, this study aims to explore Filipino pastors' lived experiences in the Christian online ministry during the pandemic, specifically: (1) to describe the lived experiences on their online ministry; (2) to describe the different challenges on their online church ministry; and (3) to describe their coping mechanisms and attitude towards shepherding the community. Utilizing the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), the study findings are the following: (1) Pastors are mostly challenged by emotional, mental, and physical problems due to isolation and the online ministry's weight. They experienced much stress, exhaustion, loneliness, depression, anxieties, and fear. (2) Most of the pastors are challenged by slow internet access and limitations of assistive gadgets and other technologies. Most of them struggled to preach the Word through online meetings and live-streams and experienced a lack of materials and equipment for the online ministry. (3) Pastors need healthy social and financial support. (4) Most pastors gained positive and new experiences in the online ministry.

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