Feature

Online Evangelism, Real-Life Church Planting

Missionaries are using both conventional and unconventional means to bring their neighbors into the church in Puerto Rico.

Story by Molly Lackey | Photography by Erik M. Lunsford | Drone photography by Drew Davidson | Spring 2026

When you imagine a typical Lutheran church, you might picture a sprawling Baroque spire in Germany or a white clapboard steeple set among the cornfields of Nebraska. What you might not imagine is Iglesia Luterana Fuente de Vida (Fountain of Life Lutheran Church) in Ponce, Puerto Rico, a sky-blue building that looks part storefront, part traditional Hacienda-style home, nestled in between apartments, medical offices and a park commemorating the abolition of slavery on the Caribbean island.

The saints of Ponce’s Fuente de Vida joined with the saints of the other two church plants in Puerto Rico over several muggy, stormy days in October 2025. During the gathering, LCMS missionaries and members of a short-term mission team from Texas met to participate in a multi-part event that included a FORO (Spanish for “forum,” a model long used in the LCMS Latin America and Caribbean region for bringing together mission partners in prayerful and financial support of the church planting being done in a particular country), an evangelistic workshop, and the recording of a new Spanish-language podcast. This confluence of activity emerged out of a desire to highlight and support the church planting work in Puerto Rico, part of a broader goal to plant 43 new churches across the region.

“Our goal is to plant a church within 20 minutes of every Puerto Rican,” wrote LCMS missionary Rev. James Sharp in a January 2026 newsletter, “so we need to continue to plant churches.”

In addition to Fuente de Vida, two other missions are ongoing on the island: Príncipe de Paz (Prince of Peace) in Mayagüez and Cordero de Dios (Lamb of God) in Bayamón, in the capital city of San Juan. With interested contacts as well as confirmed members of existing missions living in the cities of Carolina and Arecibo, east and west of San Juan respectively, there is hope that work could expand into these areas in the near future. Plans are underway to establish additional congregations in the cities of Caguas, Guayama, Yauco and Aguadilla as well.

Working Together

Missionaries share updates on these congregations regularly, but supporters have a special opportunity for direct conversation about the work going on in a region by attending a FORO. “The FORO is an opportunity for folks who are supporting the work here in Puerto Rico, for example, with their prayers and their offerings, to be directly connected with what’s happening here, to actually come down to Puerto Rico, to see the people who are being served here, to talk with the missionaries, to find out what’s going on, to contribute ideas — to really have a relationship with the church here,” explained the Rev. Adam Lehman, an LCMS missionary and church planter based in San Juan.

In addition to the FORO, the mission congregations in Puerto Rico also met for an asamblea, part business meeting for the Puerto Rican congregations, part celebratory assembly — the second-ever such meeting in the 30-year history of LCMS mission work on the island. Because of the island’s compact geography and the mobile nature of Puerto Rican life, the pastors at these church plants find themselves working closely together, even outside of these formal events.

“We’re trying to unify that outreach,” said the Rev. James Neuendorf, an LCMS missionary pastor in Ponce. “We’re making sure that our churches are networked … so that they can connect friends and family on one side of the island to the other.”

Often the church plants grow through conventional outreach measures, like after-school clubs and English classes that incorporate fellowship time, prayer and the sharing of God’s Word. Sometimes, growth comes through God’s guiding hand in coincidental circumstances, as when an LCMS couple relocating from Missouri to Puerto Rico subsequently became part of the San Juan metro group.

“We continue to see people reach out to us, especially through our website and social media, because there are a lot of folks here in Puerto Rico who are searching for exactly what’s being offered by the Lutheran church,” said Lehman. He noted that many of these people are young, desiring “to be a part of the sacramental life of the church” after encountering Lutheran theology online, especially through pastors on YouTube. Through social media and search engine optimization campaigns, the church planters in Puerto Rico are making their congregations more visible and findable than ever.

Drawing People into the Church Community

The social media factor was part of the reason for inviting an American guest to present on Lutheran theology and appear in the inaugural podcast recording session. The Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller, pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church and Jesus Lutheran Church of the Deaf in Austin, Texas, brought a short-term mission team with him to assist with church groundskeeping projects and preparations for the FORO. In addition to his service in the parish in Texas, Wolfmueller’s substantial work sharing Lutheran theology online has made him a household name among Lutherans from Colorado to Greece to Puerto Rico.

“Having Pastor Wolfmueller here is something that several of our younger folks, our 20-somethings, are very excited about,” Lehman said. “They heard Pastor Wolfmueller teaching Lutheran theology long before we ever had a chance to have them in catechesis.”

In addition to Wolfmueller, the new podcast also featured Fernando Casanova, a former Roman Catholic apologist who became Lutheran last year. Casanova was one of the most prominent Spanish-language Catholic apologists, with over a quarter of a million followers on his YouTube channel. Since his confirmation last summer, he has also been pointing his audience in Puerto Rico and beyond to study Lutheran theology and visit their local Lutheran congregation, like his own church home in Bayamón.

Neuendorf echoed the growing global influence of evangelism occurring over the internet: “People all over the world are watching YouTube [and] are learning about theology — not just on Lutheran channels, but even things like playing Minecraft and streaming and talking about theology — and it’s leading them to Lutheran churches.”

Neuendorf served as a missionary communications specialist before becoming a pastor, so he brings media experience to his work on the mission field. The podcast has been a long hoped-for evangelism tool. “We see the podcast as doing two things at the same time,” Neuendorf explained. First, it is “exposing new people to Lutheran theology who have never heard of it, but second, being a tool for our church members to share with their friends, with people that they know, even post on their own social media, [saying,] ‘This is what my church teaches about this.’”

“Using the podcast, taking advantage of things like what Pastor Wolfmueller is doing, that kind of thing is helping us at the very broadest part of our outreach … which, God willing and through the work of the Holy Spirit, will connect people to the altar of Christ and to the baptismal font,” Lehman said.

(From left) LCMS missionary Rev. Sergio Maita, the Rev. Bryan Wolfmueller and LCMS missionary Rev. James Neuendorf chat before recording a podcast in Ponce, Puerto Rico.

The podcast, which is in Spanish, will also help address a need for additional Spanish-language resources on the island and in the broader Latin American and Caribbean mission field.

“I want to emphasize that I don’t think there is such a thing as an online church,” Neuendorf explained. “But I think we can use these mediums to bring people into flesh and blood, Word and Sacrament community. … Our strategy here in Puerto Rico is we want to have a place local to you, wherever you are, but even if we don’t, you can start learning about us online.”

Waiting on the Lord

Through all of this, growth comes from the Holy Spirit and in God’s timing. Today, the first Puerto Rican is studying online through Concordia the Reformer Seminary and Mercy Center in the Dominican Republic, with the goal of joining this work after graduation. The nine total missionaries on the island continue to work with the three existing church plants to identify possible avenues for future congregations. The planting is steady and continuous, and God’s growth often occurs in unexpected, felicitous ways.

“Last night, when Pastor Wolfmueller gave his presentation, a person, a young lady, came in — none of us knew who she was,” said Neuendorf. “Afterwards, I asked, ‘Did anyone invite her? Does anyone know who she is?’ She came in, she sat in the back, she listened, and she left before the event was over so that she wouldn’t have to talk to anyone. None of us know who she is. What will the Lord do with that? Why did the Lord bring her?”

“It’s so interesting,” he continued, “because one of the things that amazes me about the way I’ve seen the Lord work over my whole time as a missionary [is that] it’s not at all beyond the Lord’s planning to have orchestrated that entire event for that young lady. … The Lord brought her, gave her a seat, set the whole thing up for her. And now what will He do?”

Learn More

Learn more about mission work in Puerto Rico

Visit the Spanish-language website of the LCMS’ mission in Puerto Rico

Meet LCMS missionary Rev. James Sharp

Meet LCMS missionary Rev. James Neuendorf

Meet LCMS missionary Rev. Adam Lehman

Meet LCMS missionary Rev. Sergio Maita

Support mission work in Puerto Rico

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Molly Lackey

Staff writer for LCMS Communications.