International Journal of Research and Review Vol. 10; Issue: 2; February 2023 Website: www.ijrrjournal.com Short Communication E-ISSN: 2349-9788; P-ISSN: 2454-2237 International Journal of Research and Review (ijrrjournal.com) 367 Volume 10; Issue: 2; February 2023 Crisis Communication Management of the Ministry of Religion of Serdang Bedagai Regency in Handling the Cancellation Policy for Prospective Indonesian Hajj Pilgrims During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Serdang Bedagai Regency Nur'asiah 1 , Dewi Kurniawati 2 , Sakhyan Asmara 3 1,2,3 Master of Communication Studies Program, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia Corresponding Author: Nur'asiah DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijrr.20230246 ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to analyze crisis communication management of the Ministry of Religion of Serdang Bedagai Regency in handling the cancellation policy for prospective Indonesian hajj pilgrims during the COVID-19 pandemic in Serdang Bedagai Regency. This research uses a descriptive method with a qualitative research. The subjects in this study are the Head of the Office of the Ministry of Religion of Serdang Bedagai Regency, the Head of the Registration and Regular Hajj Documents Section of the Regional Office of the Ministry of Religion of North Sumatra Province, as well as the Executive Staff for Preparing Materials for Hajj Registration and Cancellation of the Ministry of Religion of Serdang Bedagai Regency. The data that has been obtained is analyzed using an interactive model of qualitative data analysis from Miles and Huberman which consists of data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The results of the study show that the crisis communication management implemented by the Ministry of Religion in dealing with the cancellation of the departure of prospective Indonesian pilgrims during the COVID-19 pandemic in Serdang Bedagai Regency is reinforcing or bolstering strategies. Keywords: Crisis, Communication, Management, Prospective INTRODUCTION At the end of 2019, the world was shaken by the detection of a virus called the corona virus, which then became an outbreak of a disease called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), and was declared a pandemic on 9 March 2020 because it had spread widely in the world and then entered Indonesia. The presence of COVID-19 has had an extraordinary impact on all lines of life for countries in the world, including Indonesia. COVID-19 has an impact on all sectors and areas of life. Not only the health sector, but the socio-cultural, economic, and even religious fields have also experienced the impact of COVID-19 which has resulted in changes in mindset, ways of working, transactions, and activities that are usually carried out also experiencing changes, including in the aspect of worship world Muslims. In daily worship, the Indonesian government gives an appeal to Muslims, to carry out worship from home only. Religious activities such as gathering for recitations, congregational prayers at mosques to friday prayers, eid al-fitr prayers, and eid al-adha prayers are being carried out in an unusual way as a result of the spread of COVID-19. Likewise what happens to worship which is the fifth pillar of Islam, namely the pilgrimage. The