, more than 10% of its workforce at the time.

“In a lot of ways, these young people are teaching us how to be a seminary for the next generation,” said the Rev. Kenda Creasy Dean, the Mary D. Synnott professor of Youth, Church and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary and one of the architects of Polaris.Built to train pastors, many seminaries like Princeton are increasingly welcoming students looking to discern their calling rather than intending to work at a congregation. Dean said she has observed that pastoral credentials don’t have the draw they used to for students, which is mirrored in trends at the seminary.

While enrollment in its Master of Divinity program — a prerequisite for many seeking ordination — has declined in recent years (down to 155 students in the 2024-2025 school year, from 245 students in 2020-2021), Princeton’s master’s programs for leaders interested in theology/sustainability and in justice/public life have grown steadily since being launched in 2023. The seminary has also seen growth in part-time, hybrid and online offerings. And this year, it saw the largest incoming class of degree-pursuing students in the last five years.According to data from the Association of Theological Schools, an umbrella group of over 270 schools, Princeton isn’t alone. Though enrollment in Master of Divinity programs continues to decline among ATS member schools, down roughly 14% since 2020, that dip has been offset by boosts in two-year, often customizable Master of Arts programs and non-degree enrollment, leading to an overall 1.8% increase in enrollment at ATS schools since 2020.Still, seminaries are facing significant challenges. As a result, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, an influential Evangelical Free Church school near Chicago, announced last month it will be acquired by a Canadian university and move to British Columbia.

Despite financial setbacks, the school has had a transformative impact on the nearby city of Waukegan, Illinois, thanks to a young adult-centered program called Mosaic Ministries.Mosaic Ministries began praying with and building relationships with Waukegan churches in 2010. With the help of the Lilly Endowment, it became a formal collaboration of 12 churches in 2017, with the purpose of developing ministries with young adults. By listening to what young

people asked for — space to ask hard questions and do life together, not just host another barbecue, for example — churches adapted.

“As the years went by, our churches grew healthier, they grew more intergenerational, they grew more missional, and this collaboration of churches shifted from individual churches to a network,” said the Rev. Daniel Hartman, co-director of Mosaic Ministries at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School.In Kyiv, there was skepticism about Putin’s motives.

Peace “is not possible now. Only when (the Russians) run out of resources and army manpower. They are ready to fight, at least for this summer,” Svitlana Kyryliuk, 66, told The Associated Press. Putin will “stall for time, and that’s it,” she said.Volodymyr Lysytsia, a 45-year-old serviceman visiting the capital for rehabilitation, said Putin has made the front lines in eastern Ukraine a wasteland, with “nothing there, only scorched earth, everything bombed.”

Some were unconvinced by Putin’s promise to Trump that Russia is “ready to work with” Ukraine on a “memorandum” outlining the framework for “a possible future peace treaty.”since the early weeks of