Anna's Story of HELM by Anna Whittle

During my senior year of high school, I was researching college scholarships when I stumbled across the HELM website and the Leadership Fellows Program. It was the fall of 2020, and I was applying to as many things as possible while wrapping up my college applications. Even as a lifelong Disciple and active member of my local congregation, I had no idea a ministry like HELM existed.

Looking back six years later, I am so grateful that my 17-year-old self decided to apply. I could not have known then how much that one application would shape my college experience, my understanding of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), my call to ministry, and eventually my first experience working in ministry.

Being a Leadership Fellow and experiencing the community it provided is something that is hard to describe. HELM brings college students together from so many different places and somehow creates a community that feels both expansive and deeply personal. College is already such a major life transition, and it can be easy to lose connection with your faith. HELM gave me a Disciples home away from home. The retreats, friendships, conversations, and leadership opportunities gave me a steady presence throughout college and reminded me that I belonged to something larger. My global immersion trip to Japan in 2024 was another transformative part of my HELM experience. I still think often about the people I met, the conversations I had, and how that experience expanded my understanding of the global church I am a part of.

All of these experiences helped me deepen and discern my call to ministry. Today, I live in Nashville at the Disciples Divinity House while attending Vanderbilt Divinity School. My community at DDH has only deepened my gratitude for intentional Disciples community. HELM was that community for me during undergrad, and now I have the privilege of finding it again at the Disciples Divinity House at Vanderbilt.

After four years as a Leadership Fellow, I had the unexpected privilege of seeing HELM from the other side. I joined the HELM team as the Programs & Communications Intern in January 2025. When I first said yes to a fully virtual internship, I was skeptical about how connected I would feel. However, the HELM team has created such a caring, collaborative, and fun virtual environment. We get lots of work done, but we also take care of one another, laugh together, and make space for the ordinary parts of life. I will never forget getting home on my birthday last year, my first birthday in Nashville, and finding a cake the HELM team had so generously sent to me. It was a small thing, but it meant so much. Moments like that showed me what it looks like to work with people who genuinely care about one another. That culture of care is one of the most meaningful things I will carry with me. HELM has set a high standard for what I hope for in future workplaces and ministry settings. I have learned that ministry is about programs, communications, meetings, and deadlines, but it is also about sending someone a birthday cake, noticing when someone is having a hard week, and creating spaces where people know they belong. HELM is doing that work.

When I look back at the 17-year-old who found the HELM website while frantically applying for college scholarships, I wish I could tell her what was coming. I wish I could tell her that this random application would lead to friendships, retreats, leadership development, a global immersion experience, mentors, an internship, and a deeper sense of belonging in the church. I wish I could tell her that one day she would be living in Nashville, attending seminary, working in a congregation, and still be deeply connected to HELM.

Deciding to step away from HELM to pursue a different internship in congregational ministry was difficult because of the deep care and mentorship I have received from the entire staff over the past year and a half. But their continual encouragement and support reminded me that HELM is made up of people who are genuinely committed to supporting my ministry, even when that means I am no longer working for HELM.

So while this feels like a goodbye, in many ways it just feels like another transition. I am so excited to continue supporting HELM from the outside and to carry the community, relationships, skills, and lessons I have gained here with me.

Six years ago, my 17-year-old self submitted an application because she was trying to figure out where her future might take her. I am so grateful HELM has helped me step more fully into my calling and given me a caring community to walk with along the way.