Thankful and blessed for this beautiful podcast. My wife and I can relate to Chad as we too are converts in Canada. We both joined the Coptic Orthodox Church. We didn’t have the Christian background like Chad. What a blessing to hear Chad’s story. May God bless all of you 🙏
Thank you for this video. My husband and I also came to the Coptic Church and were baptized. Very similar story to your guest. One thing I would like to note is that it seems the interviewer is trying to understand why protestants do what they do or not do when it comes to actions taught by dogma. I went to a Baptist College; I had to take church history and they never told us about the Chalcedon schism. They briefly mentioned "church fathers" and mostly talked about St. Augustine. They jumped right into the corrupt papal system of the Roman church. I have to wonder why Doctoral professors in theology, philosophy and history did not tell us. This is huge. Either way, the reason we didn't know is because we were not taught. Reading the Bible with a heart seeking truth will eventually lead a seeker to have questions about the sacraments and the lack of these in any western church. But we get fed the wrong answers by the so-called educators. Believers who attend a western church are not bad people. They don't know any better. What bothers me about Coptic people is the lack of empathy for the western believers who had no clue that the Coptic church even existed. It often feels shaming that we did not know. I think it is easier for a Muslim to grasp Orthodox Christianity that for a protestant Christian. We were taught heresy by people who didn't know it was . We didn't with ill will and intend try to teach others a lie. We were warned against the Roman Catholic church and its doctrine as heresy. The soul tearing, and cognitive dissonance that a protestant convert has to go through is very painful. Protestant Christians are not the enemy. the lies they were taught by the enemy are the problem. A bit more compassion would be helpful.
I wanted to thank you, COA, for including the perspective of a convert to the Church. As a convert myself, it was encouraging to hear the story of someone who was not born in the Church, and the intense psychological and spiritual journey that preceded such a momentous step. I want to thank and commend you, Chad, for being willing to be vulnerable and sharing your story on such a public platform. Perhaps this is not the proper platform to mention this, but I do wonder if we could perhaps meet someday-- what struck me most about your testimony was many of the clear and geographic parallels to mine. I was also born and raised in Maryland, was homeschooled in an Evangelical background, and I currently attend a Coptic church in Baltimore. When you revisited your past Protestantism at Grace Community Church some years back, was that the church in Fulton? While the chronology is not applicable, my parents attend there... I also find your past experiences in Messianic Jewish communities fascinating, because my own Protestant background was also heavily influenced by different Hebrew Roots and Jewish roots movements, which would have been in the same geographic region as you. In connection to this, in response to some of the comments in the chat, I think most Protestants don't investigate the early history of the Church for a variety of reasons. Many Evangelicals have a Protestant-Catholic binary where they do not know or care that there were Orthodox Christians in opposition to Rome. Some, such as people I knew, believed in different conspiracy theories about how the Church went astray because it allegedly strayed from its Jewish roots, which in many ways is the origins of Gentile believers participating in Messianic Jewish congregations. Finally, and probably most importantly, because many Protestants view their faith solely as a personal relationship with Christ, albeit solely in their own interpretation of a relationship, history and past traditions do not matter... Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to share my thoughts and the many parallels of our mutual journeys into the Coptic Orthodox Church. Thank you again so much for your testimony, and God willing, we will cross some paths at some point in the DMV area!
Hello Matthew, thank you for listening in and sharing some of your testimony, praise God! It certainly sounds like we share a lot of commonalities and have walked a similar parallel path in the faith. It was Grace community church in kingsville MD that I attended for a time and Emmanuel messianic Jewish congregation in Columbia MD. I also served at Restore Church before moving to Zambia Africa. May God continue to bless and guide you in the faith and I look forward to the day our paths may cross. “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.” I Corinthians 16:13-14
@@chad.c.long1, thank you for your kind words and encouragement! My family actually has visited that Messianic congregation years ago, they likely would have some friends still there. If you do not mind my asking, what Coptic church do you currently attend? I actually became interested in Orthodoxy during Covid, as I had gradually become disengaged from my Fundamentalist and then Evangelical background, as well as increasingly disillusioned with the state of the world. I was looking for peace and a sense of stability, which was when I stumbled upon channels such as this one, as well as Abbot Tryphon of Vashon Island. After studying the faith for a couple of months, I visited SBSS in Baltimore. I attended there for about a year and a half before getting baptized in September 2023, and it has continued to be my home church ever since then.
I was raised by a protestant (Baptist) fayher who was a pastor , Granddather was a pastor and I became a pastor . I seeves as a missionary. Gave my life to live among the rural first nations people. Through a series of events i was "butned" by the denomination i was apart of and thus started a journy getting timo the root of the faith and eventually the cootic church
Wow... Truly amazing story! I too have the same story as a former Protestant with a pastor in the family, and then I became a Coptic Orthodox Christian. I will be baptized in a week with my young son.
I hope there would be coptic orthodox church in my country. I am EO but I believe that non chalcedonians got it right and I love coptic orthodox church
Here from Ethiopian Orthodox Church. Thank you COA for your amazing contents. May you all hear the word of life! Welcome home our brother in Christ.
Thankful and blessed for this beautiful podcast. My wife and I can relate to Chad as we too are converts in Canada. We both joined the Coptic Orthodox Church. We didn’t have the Christian background like Chad. What a blessing to hear Chad’s story. May God bless all of you 🙏
There are so many mission churches here in Canada. Happy to have you in the family.
Thank you for this video. My husband and I also came to the Coptic Church and were baptized. Very similar story to your guest. One thing I would like to note is that it seems the interviewer is trying to understand why protestants do what they do or not do when it comes to actions taught by dogma. I went to a Baptist College; I had to take church history and they never told us about the Chalcedon schism. They briefly mentioned "church fathers" and mostly talked about St. Augustine. They jumped right into the corrupt papal system of the Roman church. I have to wonder why Doctoral professors in theology, philosophy and history did not tell us. This is huge. Either way, the reason we didn't know is because we were not taught. Reading the Bible with a heart seeking truth will eventually lead a seeker to have questions about the sacraments and the lack of these in any western church. But we get fed the wrong answers by the so-called educators. Believers who attend a western church are not bad people. They don't know any better. What bothers me about Coptic people is the lack of empathy for the western believers who had no clue that the Coptic church even existed. It often feels shaming that we did not know. I think it is easier for a Muslim to grasp Orthodox Christianity that for a protestant Christian. We were taught heresy by people who didn't know it was . We didn't with ill will and intend try to teach others a lie. We were warned against the Roman Catholic church and its doctrine as heresy. The soul tearing, and cognitive dissonance that a protestant convert has to go through is very painful. Protestant Christians are not the enemy. the lies they were taught by the enemy are the problem. A bit more compassion would be helpful.
I wanted to thank you, COA, for including the perspective of a convert to the Church. As a convert myself, it was encouraging to hear the story of someone who was not born in the Church, and the intense psychological and spiritual journey that preceded such a momentous step. I want to thank and commend you, Chad, for being willing to be vulnerable and sharing your story on such a public platform. Perhaps this is not the proper platform to mention this, but I do wonder if we could perhaps meet someday-- what struck me most about your testimony was many of the clear and geographic parallels to mine. I was also born and raised in Maryland, was homeschooled in an Evangelical background, and I currently attend a Coptic church in Baltimore. When you revisited your past Protestantism at Grace Community Church some years back, was that the church in Fulton? While the chronology is not applicable, my parents attend there...
I also find your past experiences in Messianic Jewish communities fascinating, because my own Protestant background was also heavily influenced by different Hebrew Roots and Jewish roots movements, which would have been in the same geographic region as you. In connection to this, in response to some of the comments in the chat, I think most Protestants don't investigate the early history of the Church for a variety of reasons. Many Evangelicals have a Protestant-Catholic binary where they do not know or care that there were Orthodox Christians in opposition to Rome. Some, such as people I knew, believed in different conspiracy theories about how the Church went astray because it allegedly strayed from its Jewish roots, which in many ways is the origins of Gentile believers participating in Messianic Jewish congregations. Finally, and probably most importantly, because many Protestants view their faith solely as a personal relationship with Christ, albeit solely in their own interpretation of a relationship, history and past traditions do not matter... Sorry for such a long post, but I wanted to share my thoughts and the many parallels of our mutual journeys into the Coptic Orthodox Church. Thank you again so much for your testimony, and God willing, we will cross some paths at some point in the DMV area!
Hello Matthew, thank you for listening in and sharing some of your testimony, praise God! It certainly sounds like we share a lot of commonalities and have walked a similar parallel path in the faith. It was Grace community church in kingsville MD that I attended for a time and Emmanuel messianic Jewish congregation in Columbia MD. I also served at Restore Church before moving to Zambia Africa.
May God continue to bless and guide you in the faith and I look forward to the day our paths may cross.
“Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love.”
I Corinthians 16:13-14
@@chad.c.long1, thank you for your kind words and encouragement! My family actually has visited that Messianic congregation years ago, they likely would have some friends still there. If you do not mind my asking, what Coptic church do you currently attend?
I actually became interested in Orthodoxy during Covid, as I had gradually become disengaged from my Fundamentalist and then Evangelical background, as well as increasingly disillusioned with the state of the world. I was looking for peace and a sense of stability, which was when I stumbled upon channels such as this one, as well as Abbot Tryphon of Vashon Island. After studying the faith for a couple of months, I visited SBSS in Baltimore. I attended there for about a year and a half before getting baptized in September 2023, and it has continued to be my home church ever since then.
Fantastic conversation and I hope God continues to deepen your experience of His love in the Ancient Coptic Orthodox Church 🙏
Amazing 🤩 . Thank you COA and Chad for sharing your experience and advice.
I was raised by a protestant (Baptist) fayher who was a pastor , Granddather was a pastor and I became a pastor . I seeves as a missionary. Gave my life to live among the rural first nations people. Through a series of events i was "butned" by the denomination i was apart of and thus started a journy getting timo the root of the faith and eventually the cootic church
This was a fantastic interview in so many ways. Thank you God bless you all
God bless. I learned a lot from all of you.
Wow... Truly amazing story! I too have the same story as a former Protestant with a pastor in the family, and then I became a Coptic Orthodox Christian. I will be baptized in a week with my young son.
All Glory be to Almighty God Jesus christ. Welcome home brother.
My argument is always, claiming it was a language barrier for schism on 2 natures but completely understand the trinity. 3 persons lol
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
I hope there would be coptic orthodox church in my country. I am EO but I believe that non chalcedonians got it right and I love coptic orthodox church
☦️