A member of the moderately conservative Christian Democratic Party in Germany, Gröhe met with prominent local faith leaders and politicians and visited local Christian universities. His hometown of Neuss is a sister city to St. Paul, Minn.

“Especially among young evangelical believers, I see a large awareness of Christian civic responsibility,” Gröhe said of his time visiting with college students in America. “Younger evangelicals have a more balanced, broader agenda—that includes human rights, the environment, and global issues—than I expected. I’m very impressed about how broad the awareness of these issues is among evangelicals.”

Gröhe said his experience with American evangelicals has contradicted “prejudices” in the view of American Christians as being “very fundamentalist in a negative way” held by many secularized Germans. Back home, he will give a series of lectures in Berlin that contradict some of these prejudices.

Whereas many Germans see religion as a “very private thing,” Gröhe observed a very different attitude in America.

For example, Gröhe visited the 3M headquarters while in the Twin Cities because the company has a German branch in his town. During his visit, Gröhe said high-ranking company officials expressed interest in his trip and shared their Christian faith with him.

“There is a huge majority of Americans thinking that the religious belief of their leaders and the situation in the country connect with each other—that the health of the nation has something to do with whether the leaders have a religious background,” he said.

One surprise Gröhe experienced during his visit was more diversity in political opinions held at Christian academic institutions than expected. During visits to North Central University in Minneapolis and Bethel University in St. Paul, he spoke in classes and met with staff and students.

Gröhe also spent time visiting with state Reps. Bob Dettmer (R-Forest Lake) and Mike Beard (R-Shakopee), and Leith Anderson, pastor of Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie and president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

“One of the reasons I like to talk to Americans about Christianity in Germany is that sometimes they see it as very secularized. And we are, but there are a lot of interesting things going on in our churches too,” Gröhe said. “I think our American brothers and sisters should see that as well. There is a lot of active young Christians that really want to make a difference and it’s good that we learn from each other.”

Currently serving on the Foreign Relations Committee in German Parliament, Gröhe said his faith often informs his politics.

“My Christian belief is motivating me to care for people, not only in my own town, but in other parts of the world,” Gröhe said. “This belief provides me with ethical orientation. And belief is providing me with some sort of serenity in that this world is in the hands of God.”


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To read more about Hermann Gröhe, visit www.hermann-groehe.de/zurperson/english.php.