Finding Authentic Christian Worship: A Journey Through History, Tradition, and Faith

The search for authentic Christian worship often begins with a simple but profound question: “Is this how the apostles worshipped?”

In this special Cloud of Witnesses (https://www.patreon.com/c/CloudofWitnesses) mini-episode, our guest hosts, Ben and Ashley Langlois—Ben known online as Orthodox Luigi—invite us into their personal journey of wrestling with that very question. As a husband-and-wife team, their perspectives bring a unique richness to the conversation: Ben shares from his theological study and exploration of history, while Ashley offers a heartfelt and distinctly feminine perspective on what it means to seek beauty, meaning, and belonging within the Body of Christ.

Raised in contemporary Protestant settings, they began to sense subtle but growing tensions during worship: as guitars played, lights dimmed, and emotions ran high, they couldn’t shake the feeling that something essential was missing. Were coffee shops, branded merchandise, and high-energy worship experiences truly what Christ intended for His Church?

This questioning sparked a spiritual journey that led them through seven different churches, eventually settling for online services when no physical community seemed to reflect the fullness they longed for. Along the way, family connections played an important role. Brothers who were exploring Catholic and Orthodox traditions introduced Ben and Ashley to writings from the Church Fathers and early Christian practices that challenged many modern assumptions.

Some discoveries were unexpected—like learning that Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli, leaders of the Protestant Reformation, all practiced infant baptism, a tradition many evangelical churches have set aside. For Ashley, these realizations opened new questions about how faith traditions shape the spiritual life of families and the formative role of women in the Church.

Their journey eventually brought them to a Presbyterian congregation that offered what they call “pseudo-tradition”—wooden pews, touches of liturgy, and references to early writers. Yet, as Ashley shares, there was still a lingering sense of longing: the beauty was there, but the roots felt incomplete. Exploring historically grounded Protestant traditions like Anglicanism and Lutheranism only deepened this tension, as they often discovered a paradox—churches with the richest liturgical practices frequently embraced the most progressive theology, raising concerns about spiritual and doctrinal stability.

Through prayer, study, and reflection, Ben and Ashley’s path eventually led them to Eastern Orthodoxy, where they encountered a faith deeply rooted in apostolic succession, ancient liturgies, and a vision of salvation as a lifelong journey of transformation in Christ. Ashley speaks to how Orthodoxy’s reverence, beauty, and communal worship resonated with her desire for a faith that engages not just the mind, but the heart and the senses—inviting the whole person into relationship with God.

This is more than a story about leaving one church for another—it’s about the deeper longing many Christians feel today: to encounter something enduring, rooted, and unchanging in a rapidly shifting world.

Entire uncut, unedited conversation between Ben and Ashley available now on our Patreon!

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