For instance, LCMS could great groups for each district, bible studies, dialy devotions, discussion of web activities, LCMS news, announcements, etc. It also can maintain an archive in the server rather than each user keeping their own copies. At OnRamp, we age all newsgroups except the internal OnRamp heirarchy that is only available to our subscribers. IRC is Internet Relay Chat. I personally have not used it, but have heard from some folks that have.
People can use software to connect to the channel and participate in live discussions.
EvangeLinks contains a section with more detail on IRC . The message board could be used to allow people to ask questions about LCMS, or it could be used for LCMSers to discuss amongst themselves. Perhaps multiple boards are in order. There are some online directories on the net like WhoWhere. Maybe also what church they belong to and other information.