Hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses gathered last weekend for their first in-person regional convention since Covid-19 hit in 2020.

The theme this year was “exercise patience”.

"Over the past three years the convention was streamed worldwide as Jehovah's Witnesses watched the programme from their homes,” said Luke Branco, the local spokesman for the religious group. “We have had to ‘exercise patience’ during that time as we’ve waited for the opportunity to meet again in person at these conventions.

“As an organisation, we’re known for our annual conventions. In fact, we’re one of the largest convention organisations in the world. So, the three-year pause in holding conventions in person was unprecedented in our history.

“This year in the US alone, Jehovah's Witnesses will have hosted 708 conventions in 144 cities in 35 different languages. Worldwide we will host over 6,000 conventions in over 500 languages.”

The convention was held July 21 to July 23 at Ruth Seaton James Auditorium. Planning for the three-day event was no easy task according to its coordinator, Dave Ayres.

“Typically, preparation and planning for our regional conventions starts years in advance. The theme and content are agreed and in many locations, we have to have rental agreements in place in advance for the larger facilities. For Bermuda, our preparation starts about six months in advance.”

Sunday was a full house with “peak attendance in Bermuda at 526”. Some of the worshippers shared their thoughts on why the convention is important for them to attend.

Llewellyn Emery described it as part of the “spiritual heritage” of Jehovah’s Witnesses that involves “Bible study, festivals and conventions of God’s worshippers”.

“[It goes] all the way back to the ancient Israelites, up through modern times, up to our day,” he said. “It’s always been a feature of worship to have mass gatherings as opposed to weekly smaller congregational arrangements. It gives us a chance to fellowship with all of our fellow worshippers because we have five congregations here on the island, so an occasional convention brings everybody together, that’s what makes it enjoyable for all of us.

“We did conventions via Zoom for three years which filled the void of not having a convention at all, but everybody was in their own space at home, and we had the programme being live-streamed into our homes.

“I looked forward to being back here and hearing hundreds of voices singing together. It's always stirring to hear hundreds of people singing in unison. Aside from all the programme parts I enjoy so much, that was just a highlight to just be together and hear everybody singing and saying ‘amen’ together.”

Getting back together after the social restrictions brought on by the pandemic was also a blessing for Tanika Carter, another member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses congregation.

“After three years of being on lockdown and having our conventions via stream, I felt like they didn’t forget about us,” she said.

“They kept giving us the encouragement to keep going on, that Jehovah’s there with us every step of the way. Now to be here in person is like the feeling of you can look at a fire on TV or you can be in front of the fire and feel that warmth, and that's exactly how I felt being here again after three years. It’s wonderful.”

While there is a lot to be gained from reading the Bible at home, the conventions are “a deep dive” into the convention’s theme, said her husband, Gavin Carter.

“We know what patience is but there are always new things that we will learn about that quality, and then how we put it into everyday use, it makes the walk [with Jehovah] successful,” he added.

Patience was discussed and applied to different aspects of life over the three-day event. Worshippers shared the impact the messages had on them.

“We learnt from this programme the benefits of being patient and how to ‘exercise’ this quality in our day-to-day lives,” Mr Branco said. “Much like exercising a muscle, we were given practical suggestions to strengthen our patience, making it strong enough to overcome testing situations.”

The convention was open to everyone.

“This is not just about people who are in the faith,” Mr Carter said. “Yes, we are going to gain a lot from it but if you look around in the world today there is not a lot of hope, there is a lot of sadness. Even though the Bible was written over 2,000 years ago, the information that is recorded in it is beneficial for us today.

“I’ve put it to the test myself. I’ve seen the results of trying to do it Gavin’s way and doing it Jehovah's way, and Jehovah’s way always works. It always 100 per cent works. That's what we're getting from conventions like this. It would be my appeal to the community, the next time a Jehovah’s Witness knocks on their door, give them a chance to explain. I know there may be opinions about us, but see for yourself.”

• For more information on Jehovah’s Witnesses visit jw.org