Five years ago, Helena Pipe thought she was living the dream.

She’d just graduated from theatre school and found a job with Canadian acting company, Theatre for Young People. She was making good money and in a good space with her boyfriend.

But by 2012 things were falling apart.

“God basically stripped me of myself,” the 27-year-old said.

“After six years of being in Canada, I found out I could no longer work out there and had to come home to Bermuda.

“My boyfriend and I broke up and things in my life started going in a different direction. I was eventually led back into the church.”

She felt like her goals and desires had been dashed until God put a new dream in her heart.

“Through going to New Creation Worship Centre I was given a word by an apostle,” she said. “He said, ‘This time you’re not going anywhere. God is calling, you need to stay’.

“He was talking about my walk with Christ and telling me I couldn’t stray any longer. I was being called into being a new creation.

“Corinthians 5:17 says, ‘If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here.’ The meaning of that verse just finally clicked for me.”

Ms Pipe is the founder of 5 17 — an outreach and empowerment ministry that uses theatre and the arts to help young people grow their relationship with Christ.

“Prior to me birthing 5 17 I was looking to move back to England,” she said.

“That’s where I was born. I moved to Bermuda when I was 11. I had an agent in the UK interested in using me and then I got another word that it’s not time.

“I spent more time with God and he definitely let me know He wanted me to stay in Bermuda for now. I decided to be obedient, but it was very hard. I guess that’s where faith comes in and really trusting God that He really does have my best interests at heart and will guide me in the right direction.”

The dance instructor with Anointed Steps Dance School has also come a long way with her own faith.

Three years ago she was only going to church to impress a guy she was seeing.

“I went kicking and screaming, but believe it or not the first time I went I ended up at the altar giving my heart to the Lord,” she said.

“I attended after that and then I strayed. I would come back and then stray again. That boyfriend fell away from the church as well and funny enough, our relationship ended. But I found my way back.”

The problem was she was “longing for fulfillment” and looking in all the wrong places.

“Nothing I was doing was fulfilling me — the alcohol or sexual relationships. Not until I was able to step into the church and get my fulfillment from God did things start to make sense,” she said. “I was around 24 when I rededicated my life.”

Through 5 17 she’s hoping to help other young believers find confidence in who God made them to be.

“I think oftentimes we can get bound by our past and that’s something the enemy likes to do; make us feel unworthy to walk into church and be this new person God has called us to be,” she said.

“We get caught up in things from our past that aren’t good for us. For me, getting the revelation that all is made new was life changing for me.

“This ministry is about being true to yourself. In the church setting there’s a certain mould that comes with being a believer. You have to dress a certain way or be a certain way, but there are certain people who are unique, diverse and quirky.”

Her message to others? It’s okay to be who God created you to be.

“I’m thankful that God loves me despite all that I’ve done to disappoint him,” she said. “I’m very imperfect and yet He loves regardless of that.

“I know as humans we fall short and people hurt us in certain ways and you want to cut them off. I’ve done that before as well. But we serve a God who, despite the countless time I’ve disobeyed him, He still loves me.

“If you would have told me years ago that I would have been the visionary of an organisation that talks about God and His grace and glory then I would’ve laughed because my past is the complete opposite to that. I’m almost not worthy, but with Him I’ve been called and that’s amazing in itself.”

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