As traditional religious institutions face closures and a growing number of Americans step away from organized religion, new forms of spiritual life are taking shape across the country. With the landscape of belief shifting, USC Annenberg’s Diane Winston, Knight Center Chair in Media and Religion, is helping to chart the course.

Winston will co-lead a three-year initiative to explore and map the “spiritual infrastructure” of the future with the support of a $3.9 million grant from the Templeton Religion Trust. The national project will investigate how people are redefining community, leadership and meaning.

“This moment isn’t just about decline,” Winston said. “It’s about reinvention. Americans are finding new ways to come together — to serve, to celebrate, to seek meaning. Religion is evolving, not disappearing.”

The project brings together an interdisciplinary team, including project designer Wendy Cadge, president of Bryn Mawr College, along with researchers from Brandeis University, University of Notre Dame, the University of Minnesota and Princeton University. Together, they will concentrate on three key areas: academic research, public engagement and building a pipeline of emerging scholars.

Initial research will focus on cities including Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago, examining trends such as congregational closures, spiritual innovation and shifting models of religious leadership. A fourth city will be named soon.

To bring these insights to the broader public, the team is partnering with the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) and Religion News Service (RNS). Through reporting, fellowships, and national convenings, they aim to shift the conversation around faith in America away from decline and toward possibility.

“American news media often focuses on religion’s political dimensions or its downturn,” Winston said. “But we want to tell the full story of resilience, creativity and change.”