Tracing Pentecostal Pastoral Care

Throughout history, pastoral care has been central to the church’s diaconal mission. Nevertheless, there is limited empirical research on Pentecostal pastoral care in the Norwegian context. This study examines how pastoral care is understood and practiced among Pentecostal pastors in Norway. The study is based on a survey of 66 pastors in the Pentecostal Movement in Norway, in which selected questions were drawn from a previous study of pastoral care in the Church of Norway, supplemented by newly developed questions and open-ended responses. The results are compared with published findings from the Church of Norway and analyzed descriptively through qualitative content analysis. The analysis determines that Pentecostal pastoral care has a threefold practice, emphasizing listening and empathy, guidance and counsel, and spiritual support and intercessory prayer. Compared with studies of mainline church contexts, the practice appears more explicitly faith-oriented, with a clearer thematic profile shaped by faith, growth, healing, and interpretation. The article concludes that Pentecostal pastoral care may be considered a trialogical practice, in which pastoral care is understood as open to the presence and work of the Holy Spirit while also raising the need for ethical reflection on pneumatological boldness, pastoral responsibility, and care-seeker autonomy.