Communio

One of the biggest influences on whether a child keeps the faith is much closer to home.

Communio's new report with the Institute for Family Studies, Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations, drawing on data from 60,000+ Americans, found that only 17% of fathers believe they're primarily responsible for how their kids learn about faith (vs. 39% of mothers).

Yet children who worship alongside both parents are dramatically more likely to keep the faith as adults. When parents regularly talk about faith at home, kids are twice as likely to pray, attend church, and call faith very important in young adulthood.

The takeaway for pastors: a dad may be the most important youth pastor in his home, and marriage and family stability are not separate from faith formation. They're the soil it grows in.

That's why the wider cultural data matters too. As families fracture and birth rates fall, the church's opportunity isn't to run one more program - it's to strengthen relationships at the root.

This is the work. Fix the home → strengthen the church → renew the community.

If you haven't done so yet, these are worth your time this week:

• Dad, you don't realize how much you matter — thebaptistpaper.org/first-person-dad-you-dont-realize-how-much-you-matter/
• The most important youth pastor in America? It might be dad — washingtonexaminer.com/.../4608254
• Fathers and faith formation — ifstudies.org/in-the-news/fathers-and-faith-formation

Faith is passed on at home, through strong fathers, marriages, and families.

We help churches build exactly that through a customized strategy and framework that has strengthened marriages and families in hundreds of churches across the country.

See how it could work in your church → www.communio.org

Home - Communio Communio is a nonprofit that trains and equips churches to evangelize through the renewal of healthy relationships, marriages, and the family.

If the next 12 months in your church looked exactly like the last 12 months, would you be satisfied?

More connected families? A more engaged congregation? A healthier culture?

Or would it be more of the same?

Lasting change doesn't come from a new program. It comes from a pastor who decides to lead at the root, not just manage what's on the surface.

That decision is yours to make.

Communio is here when you're ready to take the next step.

https://hubs.ly/Q04lJ_gn0

“Before partnering with Communio, our church felt like it was missing something essential. We loved our families, but we didn’t have a clear, practical path for growth. Communio brought a strategic alignment, giving us clarity and purpose to what we were already trying to do.”
-Pastor Jacob Stephenson

Watch his story here:
https://hubs.ly/Q04lJBgw0

Attendance. Discipleship. Volunteer engagement. Giving.

Pastors often treat these as separate problems. But what if they share the same root?

The most effective church leaders have figured out that relational health isn't one ministry among many, it's the foundation everything else is built on.

Watch to understand how leading with this changes your whole approach.

7 Enemies of Metanoia Metanoia — a true change of heart and mind — is at the center of the gospel. But for most of us, it’s also one of the most resisted graces in our spiritual lives. Why? Because metanoia has enemies. Some of them are obvious. Most of them are hiding in plain sight. This is essential viewing for ...

America is in a mental health crisis. The data is undeniable.

But what if we've been looking for solutions in the wrong places?

In a new op-ed in Townhall, our founder J.P. De Gance makes the case that strong families and active faith aren't just good for the soul, they're among the most powerful protective factors we have against the mental health collapse affecting the next generation.

The decline of faith over the last 40 years hasn't happened in isolation. It has tracked alongside rising rates of anxiety, depression, loneliness, and su***de, especially among young people. That's not a coincidence.

The research from our new report, Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations, points to the same conclusion: the family home and the local church are not optional institutions. They are the infrastructure that holds people together through life's hardest seasons.

Read J.P.'s full op-ed in Townhall and download the report that backs it up.

https://townhall.com/columnists/jp-de-gance/2026/06/14/are-strong-families-the-cure-for-americas-mental-health-crisis-n2677581

communio.org/passing-the-torch-report

Are Strong Families the Cure for America’s Mental Health Crisis? Strong families and faith can protect youth mental health and combat America’s crisis.

We're now featured in Decision Magazine — published by the Billy Graham Association.

https://billygraham.org/decision-magazine/articles/new-study-parents-faith-practices-strongly-shape-adult-churchgoing

The coverage centers on our new report, Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations, a study drawing on data from more than 60,000 Americans raised in Christian households.

Here's what the research found:
— Children whose parents attended church weekly were more than twice as likely to attend church as adults.
— When both parents attended together, that likelihood jumped to 41%.
— Young adults with close bonds to their parents were 97% more likely to believe in God than those with weaker family ties.
— A strong relationship with their father gave children 73% higher odds of believing in God as adults.
— Regular faith conversations at home made children twice as likely to attend church, pray daily, and consider religion highly important.

The bottom line: the family home is the single most critical factor in whether a child keeps their faith into adulthood.

The story was originally broken by Fox News, and has since been covered by Christian Post, Christian Today, and MinistryWatch.

Download the full report to discover how the data can help shape your ministry strategy.

https://communio.org/passing-the-torch-report/

New Study: Parents’ Faith Practices Strongly Shape Adult Churchgoing A new study finds that children whose parents share their faith at home are twice as likely to attend church as adults.

Healthy church growth doesn't happen accidentally.

The pastors who are seeing real transformation — stronger families, deeper engagement, lasting momentum — aren't just working harder. They're working from a clear, relational strategy.

If you're ready to lead your church that way, this practical guide gives you the framework to start.

https://hubs.ly/Q04kMqL00

“What changes first when a church focuses on relationships?”

Most pastors expect the numbers to move first.

But when a pastor starts leading with relational health as a priority, what changes first is almost always culture.

The way people talk to each other. The way volunteers engage. The way families feel walking in on Sunday.

That culture shift is what eventually moves the numbers — and it starts with one pastor making one decision.

Watch to see what that looks like in real churches:

Ps. Alex - Asante Church - Communio Asante Church “Before Communio, we didn’t have a ministry that focused directly on strengthening marriages or giving families practical support. It became clear that we were missing something essential.” -Pastor Alex Dennis

A lot of pastors are exhausted, not because they lack passion, but because they're constantly reacting.

Before a pastor prioritizes relational health: Reactive ministry, volunteer fatigue, and inconsistent engagement.

After a pastor leads with relational health at the center: Clear alignment, stronger participation, healthier momentum.

That’s the shift churches experience when relationships become central instead of peripheral.

https://hubs.ly/Q04kMnT00