A week after Dylann Roof gunned down nine people inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, people gathered to resume Bible study in the same room where the massacre occurred.
Hundreds gathered Wednesday to show their resilience and faith in God under the theme "The Power of Love."
Interim Pastor Norvel Goff Sr. told those gathered that "this territory belongs to God," according to Fox6 Now.
"Bible study will continue," he said, "but because of what happened, we will never be the same."
Roof, 21, fatally shot nine members of the congregation who were holding a Bible study: Tywanza Sanders, Ethel Lance, Rev. and state Senator Clemente Pinckney, Cynthia Hurd, Depayne Middletown Doctor, Susie Jackson, Rev. Dr. Daniel Simmons Sr., Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, and Myra Thompson.
Roof has been charged with nine counts of murder and possession of a firearm.
Goff talked about the lessons of love.
"Last week, dark powers came over Mother Emanuel. But, that's alright. God in his infinite wisdom said 'that's alright. I've got the nine,'" he said.
A string trio played "Simple Gifts" and Be Thou My Vision."
Touching on forgiveness, Goff said, "God is with us, with you and God gives us the ability to let it go." He told the crowd that compared to what happened last week, "we are better than that."
"This is not the end. We will see our loved ones again," he said.
Singleton and Lance were buried Thursday while Pinckney's burial was set on Friday.
After the Bible study, Marlene Coakley-Jenkins, sister of victim Thompson, said, "The room was immaculate. The feeling was spiritual and uplifting."
"We know that everything that we did and everything that happened in that room just reverberated the love that we've been taught since we were children," she said, according to NBC News.
Meanwhile, the family of Roof attended service at St. Paul's Lutheran Church last Sunday.
"They are grieving in a different way, but they are grieving for those nine families, and they expressed great grief and sorrow for them," said Rev. Herman Yoos.
Yoos told NBC News that he visited the Roof family last Saturday and they agreed to come to church.
He told the congregation that "where one member of the body suffers, we all suffer and that we're in solidarity with the nine families who lost loved ones."
"We've got to work to build bridges among our congregations," Yoos said.
He said the issue of racism in the US should be tackled. "We need confront the reality of racism and work together to build honest communications, honest dialogue, prayerful conversations," he said.
