by David Scott Klajic
Scott’s journey took him from Orthodoxy to the Church of Christ, to Presbyterianism, to Eastern (Byzantine) Catholicism, to Roman Catholicism right back into the arms of the Orthodox Church.
In 2015, I “converted” to Orthodoxy, at 43 years old.
At the time, I had recently returned from my second deployment (I am an army officer) and had reached the final step in a journey that took, I guess, the entire previous 43 years. I was married, had 4 children, and a basically stable life. How did I get here?
Background
My father was a Yugoslavian national of Serbian descent who defected from the Tito regime in 1958. He was Serbian Orthodox, but by the time I was born, his association with the church was nominal at best. I never had the opportunity to speak with him about that, because he died before I started turning towards Orthodoxy. In fact, his death had quite a bit to do with it.
In the United States, he married another Serb, and they had 2 boys—my half-brothers. They eventually divorced and my father was then remarried to my mom, an Arkansas native. They were living in California at the time. My mother was raised in the distinctly American faith tradition known as the Church of Christ, which is an offshoot of the Stone-Campbell or “restoration” movement of the early 18th century. At the time, my father apparently did not want to push the issue of Orthodoxy, and deferred to my mother on the issue of what form of Christians we would “be.” He insisted that I be baptized/chrismated in the Serbian Orthodox church to “get my name on the rolls” and then we worshipped where my mom wanted to.
So it came that I was raised in the “mainline” Church of Christ, where I remained a faithful member and held various leadership roles, later as an adult. We attended twice every Sunday and Wednesday nights. We never missed—even when we were on vacation. My mom taught Sunday school. My Dad became a deacon. My parents ran the “joy bus” ministry at our church growing up.
In my late 20’s, I attended a Baptist seminary an obtained a Master’s Degree in Christian Counseling because I Intended to enter the ministry as a church counselor. There is more to that part of the story later.
Restoration Theology
It is relevant to understand a bit of what the Church of Christ teaches about itself. At its core and early history, the restoration was a unity movement. The founders of this movement from the very beginning attempted to discern from scripture what the essentials of the faith were. Part of this meant stripping away all of what they considered to be tradition, culture and therefore not essential to salvation. Without getting into a huge discussion of how they arrived there, or discussing the history and who the key players were, what they came up with was very short list of things one needed to do to be saved. Or in another way of understanding the framework—how to identify a Christian. To wit, they decided that you needed to hear the word, respond to it, repent, be baptized and then put on the new man – that is, work out your salvation every day until you die.
In the earliest days of the movement, literally everything else was considered to be matters of personal choice. They rejected all creeds, and were specifically hostile to the Westminster Confession of Faith. This is probably related to the fact that most of its original founders were former Presbyterians.
They appealed to Christians by asking “what did the very first Christians do?”
They gleaned the answers to this question from the New Testament, which like most protestants they regarded as the only source of information needed to learn this from. It would not be until much later that I wondered,
“if the New Testament was produced by the earliest Christians and then canonized by later Christians, why isn’t what those later Christians did also important?”
In the end, as the Church of Christ developed into a denomination (they do not consider themselves one, but they have all the features) the folklore became
“we are the original, New Testament church. The one true church that Christ established. We have always been around, underground while those pagan Catholics went around worshipping Mary and twisting the faith for their own purposes.”
Regardless, they are well versed in the Holy Scripture. They know what it says, and to be honest, in most cases, they know what it means. Of course, in my opinion, they are moving blindly around in the dark trying to find Jesus without the benefit of everything else the church did after the first century. But you may notice something. The thread that runs through both the Church of Christ and Orthodoxy is “originality and authenticity.” One desires it, the other is it. This is not unimportant in my own personal journey. It lead me back and further and further until I found the source.
There will always be a special place in my heart for this honest attempt to “restore” the original church. I pray that every one of them will realize it never left. It is manifest in those guys speaking the super old languages, swinging the censers and such. The members of the Church of Christ are unapologetic zealots for the truth and would make powerful assets to Orthodoxy.
In all, I spent about 30 years in the Church of Christ.
Can’t wait for part two. I too was raised by very sincere and devout parents in the church of Christ. I converted to the Orthodox Church 9 years ago. Soon after I was tonsured a reader, and I will never forget the irony that I felt when the Bishop said “you are tonsured as a reader in the true Church of Christ.”
What a beautiful sentiment. Matthew, when are you going to write up your journey story for us?
I was a member from the Church of Christ and now I’m a Orthodox Christian my son and I became orthodox December 6th 2008 at St George in Upstate New York. At the church of Christ I felt so empty and when I go to the Orthodox Church I feel fulfill. I love being a Orthodox Christian.
I am currently a minister in the Church of Christ. I was introduced to Orthodoxy by an ex-church of Christ member. The transition is very difficult, but the truth has been eye opening. Reading accounts like these are very encourageing and inspiring.
Also looking forward to part II. Funny I should find this today, the 1-year anniversary of my own reception into the EOC. Both my paternal and maternal extended families are deeply Church of Christ, too, though my immediate family hasn’t been formally aligned with it since the early ’90s. I even chuckled at the mention of this writer’s mother being from Arkansas. My own parents met, married, and had me in the shadow of Harding University, a large Church of Christ school not far from Little Rock. Small world.
I am inquiring into Orthodoxy, and I am a Church of Christ member. I appreciate this story and await Part 2.
Scott, I look forward to reading about your journey.
Scott (or anybody), Could you elaborate on the “underground ‘true’ Christians outside the Catholic & Orthodox Church” argument? Is there any evidence to support or debunk the claim?
This is almost exactly my story as well. My dad is Serbian, married my Serbian mom but for various reasons, left the cradle Orthodox faith I had the gift of being born into and spent most of my adolescence and adult life until I was 24 in various Protestant denominations, also holding many leadership roles in them. Yet God in his infinite mercy led me home to the arms of Orthodoxy and at 28 I was finally “chrismated” after also being baptized as a baby. SO encouraged by your story! God is good.
Sarah, stay tuned. In truth, there is no evidence of any kind that there was some kind of ‘secret’ church. It is a fiction.
Adam, do let us know how we can help you. It’s a well worn path, and we’re all in this together.
Me too, 7 years ago on Pentecost.
I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness and find a lot of similarities between the intention of the JW’s and COC to imitate the first century Church using sola scriptura as their main ideology.
As regards the “secret Church” that sects maintain existed through the centuries, this is just a ploy to deny the authority of the True Church, and ultimately proper Christology. This idea laid the groundwork for the rise of sects and cults, particularly since the early 19th century.
Keep praying for those seekers of Truth that they will make their own journey to Orthodoxy.
Scott,
What parts of the WCF were objectionable?
I am Reformed myself and the only major point of contention that I know between the Orthodox and the reformers is the Filioque. What other distinctives separate the Orthodox from the conservative Lutherans (LCMS) and Reformed (OPC, RCA)?
There is too much in the answer to write here. Suffice it to say that the article says – “originality and authenticity. One desires it, the other is it.” Orthodoxy is it.
You may find the Orthodox Reformed Bridge a very helpful place, as well as the journey stories of others in the Reformed tradition.
How amazing to find this site! I don’t know if the thread is still active, but I’ll post anyways =)
I was born into the Church of Christ. My father was raised as a Christian Scientist but his family left the church after the congregation turned their back on my great grandmother for going to the hospital after a serious illness. My father got baptized into the COC in his early 30’s.
Mom was from Arkansas ( I see a few others on this site with that connection!) and dad from California. Anyways, don’t want to bore anyone with my genealogy LOL! So after being in the COC for approx. 25 years, I started drifting away. I felt so disconnected. I stopped attending church altogether for a several years. I went to different denominations, even went to a few “mega-churches” which were more of a rock concert than actual worship. So a few weeks ago, I decided I needed to search for a “true” church, old school. I remember when I was a teen, attending a Greek Orthodox church with my best friend, and I remember her telling me the Orthodox church was the “first original church” which offended me, since the COC always claimed that themselves.
I went to my first Antiochian Orthodox Church service two weeks ago and loved it! But wow, how different it was than the COC, or any other Protestant-based church. Sadly, this is something I will probably never be able to share with my mother or brothers due to being harshly judged as an “idol worshipper.”
I am so thankful for this site, and for all the other former COC members sharing their conversion stories, as I still have so many questions, fears and doubts. However, I told the priest I wish to become a catechumen (I think that’s the correct word?) so in a few months I will start and am so excited to embark on this new eye-opening journey.
We are still active!
HI, I am a current Inquirer coming out of the ICOC. I appreciate reading stories like this. Are you aware of any other converts out of the ICOC?
K, I know several converts who used to be ICOC – one of whom is my brother. I suspect I am about to be another. Both of us went from the ICOC to the COC (which is what we grew up in). He left six years ago for Orthodoxy.