Start with what you share, not where you differ. Your Baptist friends love Jesus. So do you. They believe He died and rose again. So do you. They read Scripture and want to follow Christ. Same here.
That’s not nothing. When your coworker at the plant asks why you’re suddenly crossing yourself and talking about “Divine Liturgy,” begin there. You haven’t abandoned Christ. You’ve found the Church He established.
The Hardest Part
The trickiest thing to explain is probably this: we don’t think of salvation as a one-time decision. Baptists often talk about the moment they “got saved,” the altar call, the sinner’s prayer. That language doesn’t fit what we believe. We’re being saved. It’s a process, a healing, a transformation that starts at baptism and continues until we die.
We call it theosis. It means becoming united with God, participating in His life. Not becoming God ourselves, but being restored to what humans were always meant to be. St. Athanasius said God became man so that man might become god, lowercase “g,” meaning we’re meant to share in His divine nature by grace. That sounds wild to Baptist ears. But it’s right there in 2 Peter 1:4.
Your Baptist friends think of salvation mostly in legal terms. Christ paid your debt. You accept that payment by faith. Done. We don’t deny Christ paid our debt, but we see salvation as bigger than courtroom language. It’s a hospital, not just a courthouse. Christ is healing us, changing us from the inside out through the Holy Spirit working in the Church’s sacraments.
What About the Sacraments?
This is where things get concrete. Baptists see baptism as something you do after you’re saved, a public declaration of faith. It’s symbolic. We see baptism as the moment you’re united to Christ’s death and resurrection. It’s not symbolic. Something real happens. You die to your old life and rise with Christ. That’s why we baptize infants, we don’t think babies need to make a decision first, any more than they needed to decide to be born.
And we don’t separate baptism from chrismation and communion. An infant baptized in the Orthodox Church receives all three mysteries immediately. They’re a full member of the Body of Christ from day one. That shocks Baptists who think you need to understand theology before you can participate. But we’d say a baby doesn’t understand being born either, and that doesn’t make birth less real.
The Eucharist is the other big one. When we say “This is My Body,” we mean it. Not symbolic. Not memorial only. Christ is truly present. We’re receiving His actual Body and Blood. Most Baptists take communion quarterly and see it as remembering what Jesus did. We take communion every Sunday and see it as encountering the risen Christ Himself.
The Church and Tradition
Baptists have local church autonomy. Each congregation governs itself. No bishops, no hierarchy beyond the local level. They read Scripture and try to figure out what it means, often individually or with their pastor’s guidance.
We have bishops. We have a hierarchy that goes back to the Apostles. We don’t just read Scripture and interpret it however seems right. We read it the way the Church has always read it, guided by the Fathers, the Councils, the Liturgy. Holy Tradition isn’t competing with Scripture. It’s the context Scripture came from.
Try explaining it this way: imagine finding a letter from Paul in your mailbox. You’d need to know who Paul was, who he was writing to, what situation he was addressing. You’d need context. That’s what Tradition gives us. The Church that wrote the New Testament also interprets it. We don’t do “Bible alone” because the Bible never says to do Bible alone. In fact, Paul tells the Thessalonians to hold fast to the traditions they received, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
Icons and Saints
Your Baptist friends might think icons are idolatry. Be patient. This is hard for them. They’ve been taught that any religious image is a graven idol.
Explain that icons exist because of the Incarnation. God took on flesh. He had a face. We can depict Him because He made Himself visible. We’re not worshipping paint and wood any more than they’re worshipping paper and ink when they hold a Bible. We’re venerating the person depicted, honoring them. It’s like keeping photos of your family. Nobody thinks you worship your grandmother because you have her picture on the mantle.
Same with asking saints to pray for us. They’re alive in Christ. Death didn’t end their existence. We ask them to pray just like you’d ask your Baptist mama to pray for you. The communion of saints isn’t some weird Catholic invention. It’s the reality that the Church includes both the living and the departed.
Keep It Personal
Don’t make this about winning arguments. Your Baptist friends aren’t projects. They’re people you care about who want to understand why you’ve made this change. Share what you’ve experienced. Tell them about standing in Liturgy and feeling connected to two thousand years of Christians praying the same prayers. Tell them about confession, about actually hearing “your sins are forgiven” from a priest. Tell them about fasting and how it’s teaching you that your body and soul aren’t separate things.
If they’re genuinely curious, invite them to a service. Let them see it. The Liturgy explains itself better than you can. And if they’re not curious, that’s okay too. Love them. Pray for them. Live your faith in front of them. That’s the best explanation you can give.
Fr. Peter Gillquist wrote a book called “Becoming Orthodox” about a whole group of evangelicals who made this journey together. It might help you find words for what you’re experiencing. But mostly, just be honest. You found something ancient that feels more real than anything you’ve known. You’re home. That’s enough.
