Scientology’s Extremely Online Pivot to Video
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If you go on TikTok looking for information about Scientology, you’ll likely encounter a young man named Gunnar Scharf, leading impassioned tours of church buildings and holding holy texts aloft. Scharf has blue eyes, spiky dirty blonde hair, a trim black vest, and an abiding passion for telling the youth just how cool, normal, and approachable his faith really is.
“Inside Scientology,” one video begins, with Scharf leaning against a set of swinging doors, “what do we have that benefits all religions? Come with me.” He hikes a thumb over his shoulder and leads viewers in.
Scharf is the online face of Scientology’s Twin Cities church, and since the beginning of 2025 he has starred in dozens of videos on its TikTok and Instagram pages, inviting curious outsiders to check out what the church has to offer. He shows off personality tests and e-meters—the tools that Scientology uses to “audit” the curious and faithful alike—and answers common questions, like “Do Scientologists pray?” (The answer is no, unless, in addition to Scientology, they also belong to a religion where prayer is practiced.)
The account has over 10,000 followers and generates a lot of discussion—much of it either focused on Scharf’s looks (“I could fix him,” one Redditor declared) or witheringly critical (“So do I cut ties with my friends and family before or after joining?” one commenter asked on a recent video).
Scharf is just one of the young people at dozens of Scientology centers around the world who have begun making videos online, often using popular songs and trending audio, presenting a more approachable, amiable, and youthful face for the church. Many of these Instagram and TikTok accounts became especially active starting in early 2025 and have kept up an intense pace since.
A TikTok account for Scientology’s San Francisco chapter shows a younger male staffer leading tours. A less-active account called “Life Improvement Centre” shares TikToks from a Scientology mission in London, where youthful staff members brandish copies of the core Scientology text Dianetics to camera or answer questions about the church while standing near informational displays. In Las Vegas, an account presents two beaming women with long hair doing synchronized dances as onscreen text lists the “top three books to read in Scientology.” And the Los Feliz mission has been especially busy; there, a group of young female Scientologists star in a series of pop psychology-flavored videos about how Dianetics can support readers through self-discovery, mental health challenges, and even breakups.
“Stop stressing, you silly little goose,” one Los Feliz post declares, over a video of three female Scientologists jumping up and down in a kitchen. “You have a good heart, you’re not your intrusive thoughts, and Scientology exists. The universe is on your side… You’re going to be just fine.”
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Content retrieved from: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/05/scientology-recruitment-videos-tiktok-instagram/.
