WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — Churches are known to be safe places for people to go when they need help or advice.

A Winston-Salem couple wants to use the prayer as a way to get through to the community. On Saturday, Bishop Barry Washington and his wife Camilla are hosting a “warfare prayer” event.

The 13 homicides they’ve heard about in the city of Winston-Salem this year inspired the event. Two of those happened on Burke Street. The Washingtons knew when the violence started affecting businesses, they couldn’t sit back and do nothing.

“What happens in Winston-Salem is going to actually affect Kernersville and Clemmons and all the surrounding areas,” Camilla Washington said. “We can’t sit back any longer and say, ‘well, it’s not happening in my neighborhood’ because it will.”

Camilla has lived in Winston-Salem her entire life.

“I grew up in Winston, and it’s like I’ve gone into another city, and this is not what I grew up in,” she said. “It really is heartbreaking for me.”

The heartbreak she feels is about the 13 homicides that have taken place in the city this year.

A 12-year-old girl was killed in  shooting at a park. A 30-year-old man got caught in the crossfire while getting a drink with friends. Another man was shot and killed in the drive thru of a fast food restaurant. It’s these stories driving Camilla and her husband to call for an end to the violence.

“The church is willing to come outside of the church walls, and we are there to be visible, to make a change in our city, in the surrounding communities, in the region because it’s gotten to a place where the police can’t handle it all themselves,” Camilla said.

Faith, law enforcement and city leaders will come together to pray over these victims and the officers responding to the crimes. This is the first step in finding a solution to the problem no one quite knows the answer to.

“This community belongs to all of us, so we all need to be a part of it…all this gun violence…it’s affecting the businesses in the downtown of Winston-Salem. We gotta stand up,” Camilla said.

The prayer will be Saturday afternoon at the Enterprise Event Center from 11:15 until 1:00 p.m.

The plan is to pray starting at noon for an hour, and the Washingtons hope this won’t be a one-time event. The couple is expecting about 75 community and religious leaders to be there.