Jake Helder

Prof. Johnston
COMM-371
11.15.16
All Saints church
Midway through the semester, I began attending a new church in
Holland on occasion. Its called All Saints Church and its on 16th street
between Columbia and College. Its actually held the second floor of a
garage owned by a family. The culture represented at this Church is the
Anglican Tradition.
Growing up I attended a Christian Reformed church in East
Lansing. I rarely worshiped with other congregations, and when I did,
they were other CRC affiliated bodies. In college Ive worshipped at
some diverse churches, but All Saints has been incredibly different
than any of those. The first time I went, which was an afternoon prayer
service in mid September, I felt quite like a fish out of water. Are we
even worshipping the same God? This is a silly, but honest question
that passed through my head. The worship practices, liturgy,
aesthetics, music, and presentation of the Gospel where different than
my former church experience. This was and still is a cultural challenge
for me.
I am learning a lot about this new culture. They approach God
differently. They use the same Word and worship the same Triune God,
but it looks different. This stems from different beliefs about people,
and what the Church ought to be for Christians. A representative
example of this would be how we do confession and assurance at All
Saints compared to other churches. In the reformed tradition,
confession and assurance is most commonly done by reciting a
congregational prayer followed by scripture. We corporately confess sin
and scripture then reminds us of Christs atonement. It takes all of 45
seconds. At all Saints we get on our hands and knees and carefully
consider our shortcomings. We take our time to repent to the Father.
We then read scripture to remind us of our new covenant with Jesus.
The same idea looks way different between churches.
Ive learned a lot about myself thanks to this church. It has put
me in all kinds of uncomfortable situation. But Im still here and Im just
fine. Whether or not its conscious, I assume that a new culture will
always be a bad experience, or that it wont be worth my time. All
Saints is yet another reminder of the fruit that comes from engaging
with different people. In this case, new revelation of who God is, and
who I am. Again, Its profoundly tough for me to step outside of my
culture if I dont have to. But doing so at All Saints has given me more
confidence to do so, or at least to see the worth in doing so. Each CQ
drive experience makes multicultural interaction seem less like work
and more like a normal day.

Jake Helder
Prof. Johnston
COMM-371
11.15.16

Poverty
I attended a Critical Issues Symposium session called The Truth
about Local Poverty: Barriers, Bridges, and Empowering
Communication. This took place on September 28th, at 2:30pm in the
Schaap Science Center. In this session we learned about the reality of
poverty right here in the city of Holland. We heard from those whose
job it was to engage with poverty and to support those who cant
support themselves. We also heard from those who have faced poverty
first hand.
This was a cultural challenge. I cant relate to those who have
experienced poverty at all. The closest Ive come to poverty has been
living in Holland in a crappy little house living from paycheck to
paycheck. I had very little money, but I had an overwhelming support
system in my friends, family, church, and school. These are people who
look out for me. Those in poverty often dont have anyone looking out
for them. Because of my inability to closely relate or identify with those
in poverty, this was a cultural challenge.
This session was very helpful for understanding the culture of
poverty. I learned a lot about why it happens, whom its affecting, and
how I can help. One thing that surprised me was learning that the
majority of those in poverty are working their buns off to get out. In
most cases its not a matter of laziness or apathy, but a matter of
oppressive systems that keep people in poverty for many reasons. I
learned about the housing crisis in Holland, how theres a severe lack
of affordable housing. Many cant even have a house themselves; let
alone supporting spouses and kids. I also learned that even though
there is reason to be sad and upset by this, there is also hope. Holland
has many people working to end this issue, and were actually a lot
better off than most cities. This session also equipped us to combat the
effects of poverty in our own heads, and in the city. Stereotypes around
the poor are a big part of why this system is so oppressive and thats
on us. In our daily lives, we can be allies for the poor without actively
engaging for a career.

Jake Helder
Prof. Johnston
COMM-371
11.15.16
This session actually brought a lot of things together in my head.
I considered my work in churches, at the coffee shop, and even living
on 15th street. I engage with those in poverty almost every day. Thank
you God! This session has given me the interest, perspective, and
drive to engage in the culture of poverty. It showed me that Im
someone who finds a lot of comfort in familiar settings, and that it
takes work to push myself out of that. That is normal. The session also
showed me that even though Im not going to be comfortable, I can
step out of that in my daily routine as a student at Hope. The beautiful
thing that this session revealed to me is that even a simple interaction
with those in poverty is productive. It destroys stereotypes and Us vs.
Them ideologies. Breaking down those barriers in my head has given
me opportunities to engage with, pray for, and learn from those
fighting poverty in Holland today.
Hateful Things Exhibit
Hateful Things was the name of an art exhibit in the DePree Art
Center. It ran from September 9th to September 30th and I went on
Wednesday the 14th. The culture represented was the Jim Crow era of
systematic and legal racism and oppression of Black Americans. The
exhibit was a collection of racist artifacts, propaganda, and
memorabilia that stereotype and oppress African Americans.
This was challenging and painful engage. This was because I had
been blissfully unaware of the atrocities stemming from slavery. I felt
shame, sadness, anger, and blame when entering into this hateful
culture. Some of the artifacts where so absurd, so hateful, so evil, that I
wanted to turn my head but simply couldnt. Im reminded of a poster
with the title Alligator Bait that showed African American babies
being eaten by alligators. What on earth? This is exhibit was
challenging to consume.
I learned a lot about this culture. I didnt know the magnitude of
the hate or how openly racist people were. This exhibit did a great job
of revealing that. I also learned about the irony of our countries
foundation. Liberty and justice for all hasnt always been the case,
and still isnt the case today. I learned that todays America is still
operating with remnants of systematic racism and that we arent as far
from it as we like to believe. I learned that many people dont live as
freely as me, even though we live in the same country that promises
the same rights.
This exhibit fired me up. I think it did exactly what it was
intended to do. I left ready to engage with racism, micro-aggression,

Jake Helder
Prof. Johnston
COMM-371
11.15.16
and oppression in todays society. Of course, I didnt go and fix the
entire world in one day, and I wont do so in my lifetime. But I wont
forget that exhibit for a long time. Since the exhibit Ive already
engaged multiple times in conversations about racism today, and this
exhibit has equipped me with a stance and a historical knowledge to
be productive. For this culture, my CQ drive has also prompted to
consider my white privilege in a way I havent in the past. Like we
learned in class, it is almost pointless to study other cultures if youre
not aware of your own culture. And this exhibit the motivation to see
how I fit into this puzzle. How does my privilege affect others, and me
and how can I be a good steward of it. Im particularly interested in this
topic now because its incredibly relevant. We cant just pretend
slavery and systematic racism never happened. Some sort of
reconciliation must take place. Being informed of our history is a big
step towards that. This exhibit has been one of the most memorable
parts of my senior year.

Seminary Conference
The Doxology and Theology Conference was a gathering of
worship pastors from across the country. It was held on the campus
Southern Baptist Seminary on November 3rd-5th . There were a couple
different cultures represented such as, Baptists and seminarians, but
the biggest defining culture of the conference was the culture of the
pastor. Every one attending the conference was currently pastoring a
church and in most cases had been doing so for quite a while. Along
with three other Hope Students, I was in the very small minority of
people who were only at the undergraduate level of education and who
didnt lead a congregation for their career.
This gathering was intended for those who were ordained
pastors, and it was very clear that it was the case. The language used,
the topic of discussion, even the greeting style, and fashion of those
attending was incredibly distinct. I many ways I felt uncomfortable, but
I really had no choice but to engage, especially since it cost money for
me to be there. There was a baseline knowledge that was expected for
everyone to have in order to participate in the majority of the learning
and discussion that I hadnt yet had. I couldnt relate to the struggles

Jake Helder
Prof. Johnston
COMM-371
11.15.16
of leading a congregation to the foot of the cross. I didnt really have
anything new to add to conversations. It was a challenge.
I didnt contribute much, but I certainly learned a lot. The role of
a pastor is quite different than any other profession. Its actually quite
scary. I learned that a good pastor is pretty afraid of their job. They are
choosing what words are being spoken, prayed, and sung to God. They
are also a vessel for God to speak to a congregation. This is serious,
dangerous, consequential stuff. Pastors treat it like so. They actually
pray, like for hours a day. They know scripture incredibly well. The
biggest distinction of this culture to me is a pastors empathy and
sacrificial love for their congregation. Their heart beats for their
people. And their job is round the clock shepherding of spiritual health.
Its crazy to think about.
After the weekend at the conference I had begun developing
vocabulary and thought processes that were very pastoral. I was eager
to worship with Bodies of believers in Holland and to consider all I had
learned about faithfully serving a community. Clearly my interest is
higher as well as my confidence in potentially perusing a pastoral
career. I felt motivated to meet up with my pastor for coffee and to ask
him questions about what I learned that weekend as it relates to him
and how he leads our church. That conference sparked a curiosity that
has not worn off and will probably have an affect on my future
profession.