What had been a dying congregation in an older portion of Orlando has been revitalized through the simple application of Jesus’ Great Commission to his disciples.

St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, led by the Rev. Rick Walker, has dispatched a team of members into its surrounding neighborhoods each Saturday morning since last August. Their mission: to collect and follow up on prayer requests, distribute "prayer plants," check on inactive members and share their faith. The result has been a sharp increase in average Sunday worship attendance, from about 30 individuals to approximately 75 as of late January.

"This church, as best as I can tell, had never done anything in terms of outreach to the community," said Walker, who was appointed to St. Paul’s in November 1999 after serving as a Hospice chaplain. "The focus had previously been on spiritual development. People came to them; they didn’t go out to find them to bring them in."

The ongoing outreach efforts kicked off last August with a covered dish dinner. Walker asked for volunteers who would commit to knocking on doors beginning the following Saturday. Five initially signed up, but 18 showed up and formed the core team that remains active today.

The "prayer plants," which close their leaves at night and mimic praying hands, have been a particularly effective tool for building bridges between church members and those they visit. "We’ve said we wanted to give it to them as a reminder that we’ve been praying for their community, praying for their household. People share the darned things with us, total strangers standing at their door," Walker said.

A free church "Fun Day" last November that featured games, food and live entertainment was a key benchmark in the outreach’s success. St. Paul’s members promoted the event each Saturday as they knocked on doors. A week before the event, church members left doorknob advertisements at 2,000 homes. Approximately 342 individuals from the community attended, and a particularly popular aspect of the day was the "Dunk the Preacher" contest, Walker said.

According to Walker, only one child attended St. Paul’s until the outreach efforts began. Fifteen children participated in St. Paul’s Christmas pageant, a contemporary version of the Bethlehem story with bikers replacing shepherds.

The church has also begun a deaf ministry, with interpreters signing during each service. An increasing number of deaf worshippers have attended St. Paul’s as a result, and the church began a new Sunday school class to assimilate the new attendees into the life of the congregation.

Chris Bright, St. Paul’s Pastor-Parish Relations Committee chairman, said Walker’s appointment was a "Godsend," noting that every one of the pastor’s sermons is geared toward evangelism.

Bright had participated in several Share Jesus and Celebrate Jesus mission outreaches and conveyed his heart for evangelism to Walker. Prayer and brainstorming led to the covered dish kickoff.

"I just said [to the church], ‘You need to look around and see who’s not here anymore, and we need to get beyond the walls of the church,’ " Bright said. "I said that we need to invite people to church, which we’re not doing, and we need to tell people about Jesus Christ, which we’re not doing."

Walker and Bright say prayer has under girded St. Paul’s outreach efforts. Each prayer request collected on Saturday morning is placed on the altar the next day.

"Nothing happens without prayer," Bright said. "We try to emphasize that every time we get a chance. We’re dependent upon God to give us the words when we go out, because we don’t have any idea whom we’re going to talk to. We encourage everybody to pray all week long."

The Saturday morning visitations currently have a two-fold focus. One aspect is following up on already-collected prayer requests that have left the church with a particular burden for prayer. Another is intentionally visiting inactive church members.

"I am old fashioned biblical preacher. We’re supposed to go out. Standing on the promises is not sitting in the premises," Walker said.