Throughout 2026, Latter-day Saint Institutes of Religion all over the world have been celebrating 100 years of the institute program. Now there’s a new milestone for the broader Seminaries and Institutes of Religion program: 1 million students enrolled.
As the Church Educational System programs continue to grow, they provide a much-needed antidote to the pessimism and despair many young adults today are experiencing.
Last week at a media event celebrating these achievements, Elder James R. Rasband, a General Authority Seventy and newly appointed Commissioner of the Church Educational System, spoke about the need for and benefits of religious practice among young adults.
He pointed to a recent report from the Wheatley Institute, which analyzed thousands of studies related to the relationship between mental health and faith. The study found that “Across mental, physical, and social domains, the best available scientific evidence consistently shows that religious involvement is associated with improved outcomes for individuals and for society.”
And dosage matters, he explained. A recent analysis of Pew data conducted by political scientist and statistician Ryan Burge shows that people who attend church weekly or more are about twice as likely to report being “very happy” compared to their nonreligious peers. The “happiness gap” is strongest among the youngest cohorts. “There’s no other way to spin this data,” Burge has written.
Providing frequent touchpoints is important at a time when emerging adults are delaying or rejecting traditional markers of adulthood and reporting lower levels of overall well-being. This time in life is typically marked by identity exploration, instability, self-focus, feeling, and a wide-open sense of possibility. It can be a meaningful developmental season, but when young people lack strong institutions, mentors, shared moral expectations, and real communities, exploration can turn into aimlessness.
In a national poll conducted last year by the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, 57% of respondents ages 18 through 30 said getting married is important, and only 48% said the same about having children. Fewer than half felt a sense of community, and only 17% reported deep social connection.
It is exactly that kind of belonging that the Church Educational System programs are trying to create. Brother Chad Webb, first counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency and administrator of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion, said much of the increased enrollment in Seminaries and Institutes of Religion is due to the growth of the BYU–Pathway Worldwide program, which requires all students to take institute. But leaders are also intentionally targeting two areas in which students express the most interest: relevance and belonging.
Church education is serving these students’ academic needs as well. The Pathway program, which provides access to affordable certificates and degrees offered in partnership with BYU–Idaho and Ensign College, served nearly 90,000 students in 180 countries last year. This program is for Latter-day Saint students and nonmembers alike. A perhaps lesser-known program for secondary school students called Succeed in School is also providing academic support to students across the globe, with current programs throughout Africa, the Pacific, and the American Southwest, and plans for continued growth. About 96% of students involved in this program pass their respective countries’ high-stakes academic testing.
Seminaries and Institutes of Religion are also responding to students’ practical needs. The newly created Life Preparation lessons in Seminary are designed to help students develop emotional resilience, succeed in school, prepare for future education and missionary service, build healthy habits, become self-reliant, and prepare for temple covenants and family life. The Church’s Life Skills for Self-Reliance course similarly helps young single adults explore education and career options, find employment, develop study skills, prepare for interviews, manage money, create budgets, and avoid unnecessary debt. These are not separate from the spiritual aims of Church education, but rather part of them. Instead of providing yet another way for young people to escape responsibility, these seminary and institute programs teach that discipleship is a way to meet those responsibilities with faith, competence, and hope.
At a recent devotional celebrating Institute milestones, President Dallin H. Oaks, president of The Church of Jesus Christ, emphasized the individual spiritual growth available to students who take Institute classes.
We live in a day when noise and confusion are common. In contrast, at institute you will learn to distinguish truth from error, build your relationship with Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ, find direction, and discover answers to life’s greatest questions, meet others to help you down the covenant path, and meet people who you may choose to date and marry, and prepare to love and lead like the Savior. … I promise that your time in Institute will bring the Savior’s peace, joy, and divine love.
Despite the excitement for such incredible growth, Webb said, “Ultimately church education needs to be about ministering to the one, whether numbers go up or down.” The numbers are worth celebrating, but the deeper promise of church education is found one student at a time building faith in the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ.
