Over the past fifteen years churches have increased spending on facilities over 200% with a shocking 49% to 47% decrease in the US population attending church. In addition, cynicism towards the church has risen sharply as well. These startling results provoked several organizations to join in a collaborative effort called the Cornerstone Knowledge Network (CKN). CKN is a national alliance of organizations committed to developing a deeper understanding of this intersection of culture, ministry, leadership, and facilities. In doing so we hope to:
- Discover and disseminate meaningful knowledge that radically improves how facilities enhance ministry.
Another compelling development in 2008 is our strategic relationship with the nations
largest Christian publisher, Christianity Today. By collaborating with such a vast resource we have significantly enhanced our ability to develop important insight as well as disseminate that knowledge through the expansive publishing channels at Christianity Today.
Together the Aspen Group, CKN, and Christianity Today fund and resource the following efforts:
- conduct ongoing and original national research to more deeply understand evolving culture, ministry, leadership, and facilities,
- assimilation of national “Thought Leaders ” authors, and educators to effectively discern what’s coming,
- learning events with Architects and others to discern and define a new “design typology” for church facilities.
We share this knowledge through the CKN website, Christianity Today and other publications, white papers on the CKN website, podcasts on the CKN website, and at our industry recognized Cornerstone Conferences.
