Leadership During a Lockdown: The Experience of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Maintaining Church Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown have been a true test of leadership in different corners of the globe. This paper looks at the leadership approach of the Coptic Church in Egypt during this difficult time. While the Coptic Church has a hierarchical structure, the lockdown opened the way for innovative context-specific responses that varied across communities. This paper utilizes data from a survey of 68 Coptic priests in 48 churches throughout Egypt and nine case studies. The strategies adopted involved the then novel use of digital communication in offering spiritual service and the creation of new social, medical and economic support channels to congregants. The study concludes that organic “quiet” leadership approaches were present during the lockdown in order to continue service and to adapt to the lockdown situation.