Kern Family Foundation invests $930,000 in Trinity efforts to serve churches

Deerfield, Ill. - The Kern Family Foundation has awarded Trinity International University two gifts totaling $930,000 in support of the Center for Transformational Churches (CTC) and the Oikonomia Network.

It is the second consecutive year that the foundation has invested in this work at Trinity.

Trinity's CTC serves as a resource to churches and their members, helping pastors and other church leaders understand the links between faith, work, and economics. The CTC hosts the Oikonomia Network National Office from the Trinity campus and seeks to connect biblical wisdom and the modern global economy through the efforts of 19 evangelical institutions.

The Kern gifts this year will contribute about $450,000 for the CTC, and about $480,000 for the Oikonomia Network. It is the second-largest gift Kern has made to Trinity. Last year's donation to Trinity of $1 million ranks as the largest Kern gift.

"We are ever thankful for both the demonstrated confidence and the genuine investment that the Kern Foundation placed in the Trinity community with this magnanimous gift," Trinity President David S. Dockery said. "Members of the Trinity community join with me in offering our gratitude and in our shared pledge to be good stewards of this investment in the days to come."

"Our programs represent strategic opportunities to equip God's people in cultivating transformational churches," CTC Executive Director Donald Guthrie said. "Over the coming generation, with God's help, we will pray and work toward being part of a movement to reform churches and reconnect faith with the world of daily work and public life."

Kern Family Foundation President James C. Rahn said Trinity has proven itself as an outstanding partner in a relationship that dates back to 2002.

"We are excited to see its Center for Transformational Churches equipping not only pastors-in-training," Rahn said, "but also senior pastors looking for training opportunities to better resource their congregants, in all their work."