The Church of Sweden and the Quest to Bounce Back Better

Civil society organizations have distinctive roles to play in every
society. They collectively contribute to the very communal fabric that
enables a dynamic social contract, and provide the space and the opportunity
for matters not easily handled in the other spheres of society.
In those roles civil society is also a crucial part in the resilience of any
society and a key force in its capacity to cope or even grow with the various,
sudden and unexpected jolts that strike from time to time. One
such situation was the novel coronavirus that impacted the world in the
spring of 2020.
In such extreme situations – be it a natural disaster like a wildfire
or a tsunami, periods of rapid transnational migration and the displacement
of huge populations like the flow of refugees to many European
countries in late 2015 following the war in Syria, or during a global pandemic
– civil society needs to be both strong and agile.
We focus on organizational learning and use the response of Svenska
kyrkan (the Church of Sweden, henceforth ”the Church”) during two
emergencies. We examine how the Church and her parishes helped
their local communities and Sweden through the crisis created by the
coronavirus in spring 2020. Our discussion also addresses how organizational
learning – the acquisition of new skills and knowledge – contribute
to society’s resilience.