The Commission for Congregational Counseling (CCC) has released a new program called E12 (short for "Easter 12") to help congregations plan how to use Easter Sunday 2012 as an opportunity to reach out in their communities with the message of the gospel.

Materials available include text studies, sermons, worship folders, choir material, outreach postcard templates, door hanger templates, bulletin inserts, visitor follow-up templates, a prospect management database, and devotional material. Customizable full-color outreach postcards will be available to order at five cents apiece; a grant from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans helped subsidize the cost. All other materials are free.

The program requires five different contacts within the congregation: the pastor, congregation president, a worship contact, an outreach contact, and a graphics person—all with different responsibilities. Ready-to-use materials will be e-mailed each week from January through May, with rationale on why each piece is important as well as instructions on how to produce resources like this for future events.

Rev. Jonathan Hein, CCC chairman and pastor at Beautiful Savior, Summerville, S.C., says that while the program contains worship and outreach components, other major goals are to provide leadership training as well as to model a planning process that will help congregations conduct future outreach events. “Our goal is not only to give samples of what you can do but then also to help congregations do it again in the future,” he says.

Programs like E12 fit in well with the CCC’s mission: to provide short-term assessment and advice to congregations seeking to find ways to improve their ministry. “People are going to see a lot of things like E12 from the CCC—real practical, nuts-and-bolts information that will immediately make an impact in your congregation,” says Hein.

Formed in 2010 by the Conference of Presidents, the CCC is one of seven commissions in the Congregation and Ministry Support Group. It currently has no director but is run by a group of six pastors.

To learn more about E12 or to register, go to connect.wels.net/ccc.