Restoration House Ministries International Bermuda will host its fifth annual 24-hour prayer room next Saturday.

The event was initially launched in 2017 by Minster Eugenia Robinson-Lobban, founder of RHM, with the vision of creating a “safe space” for people to come together and pray. Five years on, it has evolved into an annual feature on the local religious calendar.

Mrs Robinson-Lobban is looking forward to hosting an in-person event for the first time since 2019. This year the event will take place at St Monica’s Mission on St Monica’s Road in Pembroke. It will also be streamed live for people to join from their homes.

“We are going to have a hybrid format this year,” Mrs Robinson-Lobban explained. “We’ll be in person at St Monica’s Hall and also live on Facebook and YouTube.”

The event will start at 12am on Saturday and will continue until 11.59pm. During that time different people will lead the group in prayer, following the eight prayer watches format. There will also be creative ministry and moments for preaching and sharing from God’s word.

Mrs Robinson-Lobban’s original vision for this event included reaching people around the world. In 2017 however she was not sure how to make that happen. When the pandemic hit three years later, she discovered how to transition the event into a virtual format.

“It has always been my dream to do both at the same time. To have an event streamed globally. But I did not know how to do it at the time. I have had international collaborations, but never virtually together at the same time.

“I prayed specifically for global outreach, and I have seen my prayers answered. After hosting the prayer room virtually in 2020 and 2021 I have now learnt how to live stream the event. This year’s hybrid event is truly bringing the vision to fulfilment.”

The use of live streaming has allowed people from around the world to participate in real time.

“The pandemic forced us to pivot to a virtual format, but this became a blessing in disguise,” Mrs Robinson-Lobban said.

“It is important to emphasise that this is a global community prayer room. We have people joining us from other jurisdictions and nations and some have been invited to participate. It’s not just Bermudians participating.”

The theme for this year is “You are a Light to the World” – taken from Matthew 5:14, which fits neatly with this goal of global outreach.

“Part of that scripture talks about being a light to the world. Bermuda is a lighthouse to the world in more than one way. This time of intentional prayer will be a prayer for the world and as we participate in this, we are a light to the world.

“This is a global community prayer room, based in little Bermuda. We are truly lighting the world through the power of prayer.”

Mrs Robinson-Lobban invites members of the community from all walks of life and faith to get involved in this year’s event. She hopes to see representation from across the various Christian denominations.

“I’m not doing this by myself,” she said. “This is an interdenominational effort. We continue to partner with the Anglican Church of Bermuda for our venue and have support from many other churches, including First Church of God, Seventh-day Adventist, Pentecostal, New Testament Church of God and African Methodist Episcopal, to name a few.

“Anyone is welcome to join and participate. If you want to lead us in prayer you can sign up to do so either in person or virtually. We want to empower people to pray in a safe and loving space.”

• For more information, or to sign up to pray, visit www.eugenialrobinson.com. To stream the prayer room live on either Facebook or YouTube, search for Eugenia Robinson