In Germany, right-wing ‘Christfluencers’ hope to follow the US religious right

OBERURSEL, Germany (RNS) — Tobias Riemenschneider’s congregation meets on the top floor of a repurposed train station outside Frankfurt am Main. A narrow spiral staircase leads to a converted dance studio, encircled by mirrors and chandeliers, decorated in pink and sparkles.

In the center, a camera rig focuses on a wobbly old wooden pulpit with a coaster stabilizing its foot. Just out of frame, Riemenschneider’s brother-in-law and co-pastor, Paul Sayers, occasionally dashes over to a keyboard to play synthy organ tunes.

The small congregation of about 50 people often hears about the plight of godly masculinity and the rising threats of LGBTQ+ rights activists and influx of Muslim immigrants.

The women cover their hair with veils.

“I don’t care necessarily what the man believes as much as I know that he’s convicted that what he tells is biblically based,” parishioner Chris Hutchinson, originally from Kentucky, said. “There are not a lot of sources for this sort of biblical teaching here in Germany anymore. Even though this is the land of the Reformation.”

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