Princeton, N.J. (RNS) – On a Tuesday evening in early April, an audience was sitting engrossed in the Princeton Theological Diner. An adult in her 20s walked to the platform, took the microphone and shared the story.
“If God made our bodies this complicated, did you realize that the care we provide to others should not be equally complicated?” Jewel Kosi asked.
“I allowed Jesus to see me, I saw him, and my life has been completely transformed,” Betty Freyman said.
“In a world where excellence is expected and assimilation is often rewarded, how can we be curious?” asked Rachel Wilson. “For me, I bring my questions to God.”
Despite the setting, young adults speak It wasn’t a seminary: They are summit entrepreneurs, nonprofits, healthcare professionals and other experts as part of the Paris Young Adult Leadership Network, and are the new initiative of Princeton Theological Seminary, with the aim of young Christian leaders finding their calling beyond the ministry of the parish.
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“If you are leading in the public sector, if you are an artist, business leader, or educator and you are deeply motivated by the Christian faith, I think there is something to offer in theological education.”
In recent years, many US seminaries have faced an existential threat promoted by the Covid-19 pandemic and the changing religious landscape. As organized religion continues to gain popularity among many Gen Z, some seminaries have reduced and combined online and hybrid models. They are also evolving and offer a variety of certificate programs or degrees tailored for non-linear students. Some seminaries aim to retired or second-career students, while others refuse to give up on young adults and instead design programs that help them achieve spirituality beyond the seminary barriers.
Freyman, 28, a high-tech consulting manager based in Dallas and a participant at the Polaris Summit, said meeting other Christians who “work the Lord” in the secular world made her feel less lonely.
Freyman, who is Catholic and hosts the Spanish podcast for Latin Catholics, said:
That Monday (March 31st), Freyman gathered in the seminary library along with about 30 other young adults. The room was surprised as participants responded to discussion prompts, weaved threads for interactive art projects, and heard lectures on churches in the modern world. Throughout the summit, each shared an eight-minute personal story about Christian leadership at the group or the final storytelling festival.
“What really stood out for me is the fact that everyone is a young adult,” said Kennedy May, a 22-year-old psychology major at the University of Kentucky. Raised as a non-denominational Christian, she often discusses God with other young adults in her life, but she often says she finds herself “to defend God.” Here, that was different.
Launched in 2023 with a $4 million grant from the Lilly Fund, the Polaris Young Adult Leadership Network will convene these cohorts while funding local ministry efforts and offering workshops on topics such as mental health, occupational identification and sustainability. The aim is to fight isolation among young Christian leaders and counter the story of all young people losing faith.
“In many ways, these young people teach how to become the next generation of seminaries,” said Pastor Kenda Creece Dean, professor of youth, church and culture at Mary D. Sinnott at Princeton Theological Seminary and one of the architects at Polaris.
Many seminaries, such as Princeton, built to train pastors, are increasingly welcoming students who are trying to identify callings rather than intended to work in the congregation. Dean said he observed that he did not have the draw that the idyllic qualifications were using for the students.
Enrollment in the Master of Divinity Program – many ordination prerequisites – has been declining in recent years (155 students in the 2024-2025 grade, with 245 students from 2020-2021), and Masters’ Masters’ Masters’ Program for Leaders with Interest in Theology/Sustainability has grown in 2023. And this year we have seen the biggest class of students who have been struggling their degrees in the past five years.
Princeton is not alone, according to data from the Association of Theological Schools, an umbrella group of over 270 schools. Registration for the Master of Divinity program continues to decline among ATS member schools, but has declined by about 14% since 2020, but that DIP has increased by 1.8% since 2020, due to two years of increased ATS school enrolment, often offset by a customizable Arts Master Program and a boost in non-registration.
Still, seminaries face important challenges. As a result, Trinity Evangelical Seminary, an influential evangelical liberal church school near Chicago, announced last month that it would be buying up by a Canadian university and moving to British Columbia.
Despite the economic set-off, the school had a transformative impact on a city near Waukegan, Illinois, thanks to a young adult-centered program called Mosaic Ministries.
The Mosaic Ministries began praying and praying for their relationship with the Waukeegan Church in 2010. With the help of Lily’s donation, in 2017 it became the formal collaboration of 12 churches with the aim of developing ministries with young adults. By hearing you’re young
People not only hosted another barbecue, for example, but also asked difficult questions and asked spaces to live together – the church was adapted.
“As the years passed, our churches became healthier, they became more generational and more missionary, and this church’s cooperation has shifted from individual churches to networks,” said Pastor Daniel Hartman, co-director of the Department of Mosaic at the Trinity Evangelical God Miniti School.
In 2022, the network came together to form Refined, a youth-oriented program from each of the 12 churches. For 18 months, Young Adults were mentored, took part in retreats and participated in a Waukegan-based community project.
Adi Camacho grew up attending Baptist Church in Walkgun, but after a few years away from the church, she became refined.
“It was the first time I’d seen a brother and sister who were not from my congregation who could hear my heart and be there for me and who could love and support me in such a respectful way,” Camacho said. “We were able to break barriers between the churches.”
Camacho will host a podcast on the impact of mosaic ministry and will pitch the program at city-wide events such as Clean Up Days, Toy Drives and Prayer Services. The city routinely turns its eye on mosaics to meet local needs, and the former library, the hub of mosaics, is a gathering location designed to welcome young people who may be hesitant to meet at churches.
It is not yet clear how the seminarian’s movements will affect mosaic ministries. However, innovative seminary initiatives, similar to mosaics, employ a unique approach to empowering young people in their own context, without trying to persuade them to register as students. For example, Austin Presbyterian Seminary in Texas has created programming for both Christianity and the young people of “Christ’s Curiosity.”
“We are pleased to announce that we are a great opportunity to help you understand the importance of our efforts to help you,” said Melissa Wiggington, Vice President of Strategic Engagement and Partnerships at Austin Theological Seminary. “We know there’s a longing for people to lead to something sturdy enough to hold them, but it’s not strict enough to envelop them.”
Since 2017, the seminary has created such a space through the 787 initiative, with the help of Lily’s contributions, providing faith and community engagement to young people in Austin. Mercedes Collins, which runs a recreational club outside ATX for the Black community in Austin, has spoken out to the 787 advisory board. She said young people in the network long for a space where they can hear their voices.
“Community is spiritual, right?” Collins said. “We’re not going to be here alone.” 787 is the forerunner of the seminary’s Austin Story Project, which began in January, offering face-to-face storytelling cohorts and spiritual pilgrimages to young adults. The first pilgrimage focuses on non-violence, with participants visiting sites related to nuclear weapons production in the Pacific Northwest. Survivors of the Hiroshima bombing will accompany you.
“Everyone is in a massive period of experimentation,” said Dean of Princeton Theological Seminary. “Despair is a spiritual gift, and it gives us the opportunity to try something that was coming out of the table 10 years ago, and it happens everywhere.
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