Pastoral Care for Sunday School Children of Indonesian Church in Australia During Pandemic
- January 21, 2021
- Posted by: RSIS Team
- Categories: COVID-19, IJRISS
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue XII, December 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Pastoral Care for Sunday School Children of Indonesian Church in Australia During Pandemic
Hans Peteryo Halim1, Yanto Paulus Hermanto2, Rubin Adi Abraham3
1Indonesian Mission Institute (IMI) Australia
2,3Sekolah Tinggi Teologia Kharisma Bandung Indonesia
Abstract:- During this pandemic of Covid-19 in 2020, supports and encouragement are needed in the society, especially in church. Therefore, pastoral service must keep running and serving the congregation. In this regard, the researcher is obliged to explore how Indonesian churches’ pastoral care in Australia should continue, especially in Sunday school duringthe pandemic. The method used is literature and field research methods. From the results of this research, we obtain a clear picture of how pastoral care should continue and what the church can do to remain pastoral care in Sunday school. The most important thing is to have Sunday school teachers who can teach, guide, and lead their Sunday school children. Having a clear understanding of the children characteristic is also critical, as important as knowing how to run the online Sunday school service. Likewise, parent supports are essential for running the Sunday school as an online church service.
Keywords:- Sunday school during pandemic, Covid-19, Indonesian church in Australia, Online church service
Introduction
March is a month when churches are starting to plan their Easter service, yet March 2020 is a month when almost every church cancelled their Easter plan.As the World Health Organization – WHO has established pandemic status in the Covid-19 virus. WHO is declaring the status following the rapid spread of the virus, which is impacting globally . So, the Australian government is working on ways to suppress and break the chain of the spread of the virus, from providing health assistance to those affected to banning large numbers of associations. This tightening has had a profound impact on various sectors, ranging from workers who can no longer work in offices, the closure of borders between states and between countries. The social distancing is aiming the flat curves– engulfing the covid-19 virus transmission curve .So this has an impact on church worship as well as Sunday school worship.
