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As Princeton Theological Seminary’s Institute for Youth Ministry (IYM) enters its fourth decade, Liz Moore has been named its new Director. In the role, Moore is charged with building on the IYM’s vision statement of forming youth leaders for thoughtful, just, and creative ministry with young people.
Moore, who earned a bachelor’s degree in religious studies from Trinity College and an MDiv from Duke Divinity School, previously served as the IYM’s Assistant Director since 2023. She joined the Institute following a decade-plus of working in youth ministry in multiple school communities up and down the East Coast.
I’m elated to help take the IYM into this next chapter. It’s been an incredible journey to be part of this kind of work, to support youth leaders and anyone who cares about young people.
At the IYM, she has focused on identifying the emerging needs of the people it serves and building effective solutions around them. She recently overhauled the Institute’s Certificate in Youth and Theology, an online program designed to provide practical skills and theological growth for those working with young people in faith-based settings. Her work on the program was motivated directly by conversations with youth leaders about the training they said they needed.
As Director, Moore hopes to expand the work of the IYM during a period when the traditional model of youth ministry continues to change. The number of congregations going without a full-time youth minister has increased markedly since the IYM was founded in the mid-1990s, Moore said. As a result, more churches have been relying on volunteers to work with youth than in the past.
“As the landscape of the church and the economics of the church has changed, we’ve seen our audience change,” Moore said. “In this cultural moment for people of faith, we need to reach volunteers, parents, and teachers who need help so that young people can feel the support that they need.”
Moore has “the expertise, theological nuance, and creativity” to lead the IYM into its next chapter for the evolving needs of the church, said Kenda Creasy Dean, PhD ’97, Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church and Culture, and the Founder of the IYM.
“The needs of youth pastors, not to mention young people themselves, have changed dramatically over the past 30 years. Nobody is more aware of those shifts, or is better positioned to address them, than Liz Moore,” said Dean. “Her knowledge of the field, vision, creativity, and holy curiosity are exactly what the Institute for Youth Ministry needs right now.”
“The IYM has a long history of being a bridge to theological resources for youth ministry leaders,” said Abigail Visco Rusert, MDiv ’08, Associate Dean of Continuing Education and Former Director of the IYM. “Liz is ready to steward the IYM’s work as we continue to build bridges between the academy and the church.”
Princeton Seminary established the IYM in 1995. It continues to stand out among other youth ministry organizations because it is one of the few embedded in a theological institution, granting access to academic resources that enable deep theological formation for participants. Since its inception, the IYM has supported scholarship and fostered research about Christian ministry with young people, including its current project, The Foundations Project, which is funded by Lilly Endowment, Inc., and supports scholars and practitioners working in collaboration to develop practical theological resources for those practicing youth ministry without sufficient resources or infrastructure. An annual Forum on Youth Ministry is also held each spring to engage deep questions around youth ministry.
“People are hungry for some level of theological education around caring for young people, and Princeton Theological Seminary and the IYM are some of the best places that people come to find that at,” Moore said.
Despite the decline of paid youth positions and the rise of volunteer-led ministries, Moore recognizes a through line that continues today from the IYM’s founding: its aim to elevate the importance of youth ministry and young people to the church.
“Youth ministry often exists in a dark corner that no one is really paying attention to and part of what the IYM is trying to do is bring that out into the light and say, ‘This is the life of the church and doing this work is crucial,’” Moore said.
To support her vision for the next chapter, the IYM is currently seeking a new Assistant Director who is passionate about youth ministry and aware of the challenges and opportunities of ministering to young people today. Moore is excited to serve a broader range of people who are able to influence the young people around them.
“What we hope to move people toward is that, instead of it only being the responsibility of youth leaders, each Christian adult in a community has something to offer young people,” she said.
