Faith made trendy What are "Christfluencers" - and how dangerous are they?

So-called "Christfluencers" preach about God on TikTok and Instagram, post Bible verses - and reach hundreds of thousands. What's behind it all?

A cross symbol or the slogan "Jesus first" in the bio under the profile picture - more and more people are openly discussing their faith on social media. It's hard to imagine TikTok or Instagram without so-called "Christfluencers".

blue News explains who they are - and what their goals are:

The term "Christfluencer" is made up of "Christian" and "influencer". They are people who have a large online community and whose focus is their faith. Their videos are trendy and often accompanied by music.

In them, they talk about God, give tips for everyday Christian life or the right outfit, design their Bibles, talk about their dating life as Christians, pray in front of the camera and share Bible verses. Like most influencers, they supposedly create closeness, convey the feeling of "I'm like you" and at the same time present themselves as moral authorities.

Their aim is to spread their own Christian faith via social media and to win their followers over to a certain Christian perspective. It is not uncommon for this to become a lucrative business model. For example, many Christfluencers sell jewelry, their own Bible or offer coaching sessions for several hundred francs.

There have been Christfluencers in the USA for a long time, and they are also on the increase in Germany. Probably the best-known German Christfluencer is Millane. She has over 7 million followers on TikTok alone and 1.4 million on Instagram. In the USA, it is currently Sarah Jakes Roberts. She has a total of 4.5 million followers on TikTok and Instagram.

There are also Christfluencers in Switzerland - but not very many yet. Probably the best known of them is Miro Wittwer from Aargau. He is followed by over 20,000 people each on TikTok and Instagram (@mirowittwer). He is one of the more radical types.

In his videos on social media, he is often seen on public transport. For example, on the bus, on a plane or on the subway abroad. He talks loudly about how Jesus loves people: "He died for you and his name is Jesus Christ," he says in one video.

In other videos, he hugs people, blesses them directly or says a prayer with which he supposedly relieves them of long-standing pain - in their shoulder, for example.

He has been a devout Christian since 2023 and has been proselytizing on the street and online ever since. Wittwer is in his mid-thirties, usually wears white clothes and has longer hair. He reminds us of Jesus. Coincidence? Hardly.

Aurora from Aargau is also a Christfluencer. She has just over 2,700 followers on TikTok (@auris_digitaldiary). The 21-year-old is studying psychology and religious education. In her videos, she talks about everyday things. For example, about traveling and girlhood - but also about God and her faith. She posts her current favorite Bible verses, shows Christian music or takes her followers to church.

Unlike Aurora, Miro Wittwer has turned his faith into a business model. He has written a book that he sells, offers mentoring masterclasses for 999 euros and runs a clothing brand called "For Jesus" together with his wife.

Many Christfluencers specifically target young adults - mostly women between the ages of 20 and 30 who are looking for guidance in matters of life and faith.

In addition to lifestyle topics such as fashion and relationships, followers also find more profound messages about faith on Christfluencer profiles. This creates closeness and depth.

If you take a closer look at the messages, you will notice that they often portray a closed world view, exclude those who think differently and sometimes use end-time rhetoric. For young people in search of meaning, this emotional appeal can have a strong effect and have a lasting impact on their thinking.

There are no studies on the impact of religious influencers. Only individual reports of conversions due to social media. "However, these cannot say anything statistically. Whether there is a trend of conversions or not remains to be seen," says Georg Otto Schmid, Head of Relinfo and sect expert, when asked by blue News. However, Schmid believes that radical Christian influencers who want to found their own church would find it difficult to persuade their many followers to actually join.

"Christian influencers are as harmless and as problematic as the form of Christianity they represent," says Schmid. "There are influencers who are active on behalf of regional churches, others who are close to free churches and others who spread their own radical, sectarian form of Christianity," Schmid continues.

According to Schmid, problematic influencers of all religions can be recognized by the fact that they present their own faith as the only correct one, set strict rules that interfere heavily in people's lives, spread hatred against minorities or other religions, make unrealistic promises of healing or place themselves excessively at the center of attention.

How critical should the two Swiss Christfluencers be viewed? Aurora, the Swiss Christfluencer, regularly attends the "Silbern Church" in Dietikon AG, for example. The church describes itself as a "dynamic free church" on its website. In a newspaper interview last year, the church leader explained that queer people are welcome in the church services, but cannot become members as it is based on the values of the Bible.

In an interview with SRF, Aurora was confronted with this statement by the church leader. She carefully distanced herself from it, saying that in her opinion the church should be a place where everyone is welcome.

Miro Wittwer, on the other hand, is clearly homophobic: "For us heterosexual men, it's an abomination when we see gay men having sex or kissing. What do you think? Is it not an abomination to God? It is an abomination to God. Because it's the devil who perverts us," he says in a video on YouTube. He later explains to SRF that he does not reject homosexual people. It is only the "spirit of homosexuality" that affects people that he rejects.

"Men in particular are very active among radical Christian influencers. Like Miro Wittwer, for example," Schmid told blue News. There is a clear surplus of women in the conservative Christian milieu, especially in the USA. Social media would offer women who take care of the family and household at home an opportunity to become publicly active. "In German-speaking countries, the social basis for this phenomenon is much more limited," explains Schmid.

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