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Princeton Theological Seminary has received a $25.9 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to strengthen how young adult Christian leaders are formed, supported, and connected across the United States. The largest grant in the Seminary’s history, the five-year award will significantly expand the Polaris Young Adult Christian Leadership Initiative and establish Princeton Seminary as a national hub for connecting organizations, scholars, and leaders through three interconnected efforts: the Polaris Collaborative, the Polaris Leadership Network, and a research planning initiative.
Launched at Princeton Seminary in 2023 with support from Lilly Endowment, Polaris has connected young adult Christian leaders across professional and denominational backgrounds, creating opportunities to deepen their faith, develop their leadership, and build meaningful relationships. Its next chapter will expand that work by convening and collaborating with organizations, faculty, and practitioners nationwide, drawing on their distinctive expertise and resources.
From 2027 through 2031, Polaris expects to reach more than 20,000 young adults and 1,700 organizational leaders nationwide and direct $10 million to support the efforts of partner organizations nationwide. The initiative will also support planning to explore the potential for a future national study of faith, spirituality, and flourishing in young adulthood.
The expanded initiative will be led by Shari Oosting, executive director of Polaris, under the institutional leadership of Abigail Visco Rusert, associate dean of continuing education at Princeton Seminary. Kenda Creasy Dean, Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church and Culture, will serve as Research Scholar.
How do we cultivate the faith, imagination, and leadership of a generation? We believe theological institutions have a vital role to play in this work. With Lilly Endowment’s generous support, we can bring together faculty, scholars, and organizations from across the country to help form young Christian leaders and strengthen the communities and institutions that sustain them.
Through the Polaris Collaborative, Princeton Seminary will award $1 million grants to ten established organizations working with young adults across the United States. The invited organizations will receive the four-year grants to strengthen their work with young adults and extend resources through their own networks of leaders and organizations.
Reflecting Lilly Endowment’s commitment to strengthening organizations that nurture faith and leadership, the Collaborative recognizes that organizations across the country bring distinctive expertise, relationships, and knowledge of the young adults they serve. By supporting their work and creating opportunities for shared learning, Polaris aims to strengthen a national network of institutions and communities equipped to nurture young adult Christian faith and leadership for years to come.
While much of the national conversation focuses on young adults leaving Christianity, Polaris tells another story: across the country, young adults are drawing on their Christian faith to lead and serve in their communities, workplaces, and congregations. Polaris seeks to identify, connect, and cultivate these leaders, strengthening their faith and expanding their impact.
The expanded Polaris Leadership Network will build on this work through fellowships, leadership summits, conferences, theological learning opportunities, and an Ambassador Program that equips program alumni to support other young adults within their own communities. These experiences will deepen participants’ faith and leadership capacities while contributing to a broader understanding of effective approaches to Christian formation.
“What we’ve learned through Polaris is that deepening young adults’ faith and leadership capacities requires communities of belonging, theological depth, and relationships with other young Christian leaders,” noted Dean. “Now we have an opportunity to build on those insights, strengthening not only young adult leaders, but the institutions and communities that help them flourish.”
Understanding young adult faith requires serious attention to how faith takes shape in daily life, cultivates a sense of meaning and purpose, and influences the communities and institutions to which young adults belong.
Building on research and evaluation from Polaris’ first phase, Princeton Seminary will convene faculty, scholars, and practitioners from across the country to explore the potential for a national study of faith, spirituality, and flourishing in young adulthood. Drawing on expertise in theology, sociology, psychology, public health, ethics, and other disciplines, the planning effort will assess existing research, identify gaps in understanding, and consider the questions, approaches, and partnerships that could inform a future study.
“Rigorous scholarship is essential to understanding not only how faith is changing, but how it shapes people and communities,” said John Bowlin, dean and vice president of academic affairs at Princeton Theological Seminary. “By bringing together scholars across disciplines, we can identify the questions that most urgently need exploration and consider how future research might deepen our understanding of faith and spirituality in young adulthood.”
Grants to support Polaris have been made through Lilly Endowment’s Young Adult Initiative, a national effort to encourage innovative efforts to deepen the religious lives of young adults and to engage them more fully in the life of Christian congregations. The new grant period begins in January 2027 and continues through December 2031.
