Helena wants to find community in a free church community, but is confronted with exclusion.
Trigger warning: This text is about homophobia.
Every Sunday we go to church - this is the case for fewer and fewer Germans. The number of members of the national churches has been declining for years. Edgar Wunder, sociologist and member of the Social Science Institute of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), speaks of a “religiosity trend that is declining across society.” Not only the Protestant and Catholic churches are affected, but also so-called free churches.
Although some free churches, many of which come together under the Association of Free Church Pentecostal Congregations, often present themselves as open and modern on their websites, they are also losing members. The number of members has been declining for decades, explains Wunder. “In the 1950s there were about twice as many as today,” says the scientist. Nevertheless, the number of large free churches is “relatively stable”.
Free churches: A service like a Ted talk
Helena, a teacher training student from Berlin, wanted to find community in a free church and share her faith with others. She went to church services regularly for about two years. It always felt very inclusive, she tells
BuzzFeed News Germany
.
But how do these services actually work? Helena talks about her experiences in free churches in Berlin, Munich and also Bulgaria: “It's in English and the pastor is often very stylized - it feels more like a Ted Talk. Many Christians say that the Holy Spirit enters them. And then there is this intense worship. Arms are up, people are falling to their knees and crying. It's all very intense.”
Sociologist Wunder also describes this intensity: “On average, members of free churches have a significantly higher level of religiosity than members of mainstream churches. At the same time, many free churches also expect a high level of active participation in community life.” This also includes the fact that they finance themselves through donations from their own members and also request these during church services.
More on the topic: 7 things for which Germany sacrifices less money than for the church.
After homophobic statements in the Free Church, a student draws a line in the sand
In February 2024, Helena drew a line because “from January onwards, the church services moved in a different direction,” explains the 24-year-old. Ultimately, the decisive factor was the behavior of a pastor, which she reports on in a TikTok video and which she describes to
BuzzFeed News Germany
: “The pastor said, 'We want you to live according to the Bible and just because certain types of weddings are in "The fact that they are allowed in secular laws does not mean that they are allowed in the Bible and that we value that."
The Bible (which Kurt Krömer finds less effective than the Bild newspaper) has increasingly faded into the background; instead, the focus is primarily on the pastor's mission, as the 24-year-old describes it. “And that’s what led to me leaving, because the mission is homophobic,” she says.
BuzzFeed News Germany
has confronted Hillsong Berlin about the incident. However, Hillsong Berlin had no comment until this article was published.
More from TikTok: “Your body belongs to you” – TikToker campaigns for education.
Homophobia – a free church problem?
“This is not a Hillsong problem. This is a free church problem. Be aware of it,” one user responds to Helena’s video. However, there are many people who are religious and queer - how does that work? So are all free churches really homophobic, perhaps even radical, as some people suspect in the comments? No.
In many ways, the various communities differ too much from one another to allow general statements to be made about them. “Membership of a free church alone is not a reason for individuals to hold radical views. When such criticism becomes loud, it is often sparked by individual cases,” says religious scholar Radermacher from the University of Bochum. “In general, however, one can say that many free churches claim to represent traditional Christian values, which they understand to be derived from biblical tradition,” explains Radermacher.
The fact that the Bible is often used as justification for homophobic statements is evident in the comments under Helena's video.
Student wants community instead of exclusion
“Why are you upset that the pastor says marriage is only for a man and a woman. It’s just true to the Bible,” writes one user. Another person comments, "Do you think he's not right to say that gay marriage is wrong and goes against the Word of God?" Because, he's right about that." In addition to several similar statements, some people also commented on Bible passages that they believed condemned homosexuality and the LGBTQ+ community.
These comments came as a shock to Helena, as she tells
BuzzFeed News Germany
. “The amount of hate, the amount of anger,” made her think. She is still convinced that “as a community you have a responsibility, especially for marginalized groups, and that you have to see the Bible in a historical context.”
The theology student believes that the Bible should not be used to exclude and hurt people . She wants community instead of exclusion in a community, i.e. what free churches actually always preach.
More on the topic: “Brash lie”: Queer community criticizes the approach to blessing homosexual couples.