Key Takeaways

• Christian Today covered the new “Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations” report by the Institute for Family Studies and Communio, based on data from over 60,000 adults raised in Christian households.

• Parents modeling faith at home is the single most powerful predictor of adult religiosity — more than youth groups, church programs, or any other institutional factor.

• Fathers are a particularly underutilized influence: only 17% of fathers see themselves as primarily responsible for their children’s religious formation, yet a strong father-child relationship is associated with 76% greater odds of weekly church attendance in adulthood.

• The report identifies a powerful multigenerational ripple effect: adults who discussed religion regularly with both parents are more likely to have those same conversations with their own children.

• Reversing generational faith decline will require churches and families working together, with families leading and churches equipping parents, strengthening marriages, and investing in youth ministry.

The Research: 60,000 Adults. One Clear Pattern.

Christian Today, one of the most widely read Christian news platforms, covered this week the release of a major new study with significant implications for every pastor thinking seriously about the long-term health of their congregation.

“Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations,” published by the Institute for Family Studies and Communio, analyzed data from more than 60,000 adult Americans raised in Christian households. The study draws on four major longitudinal datasets, the Global Flourishing Study, Communio’s Nationwide Study on Faith and Relationships, the Add Health study, and the National Study of Youth and Religion, to answer one of the most consequential questions facing the Church today.

Why do some children keep their faith into adulthood, while others don’t? And what, specifically, makes the difference?

The answer the data returns is both clarifying and challenging: the family home is the single most important factor. Not the youth group. Not the summer camp. Not the Sunday school program. 

The Core Finding: Faith Is Caught Before It’s Taught

The Passing the Torch report identifies parental modeling as the most powerful influence on a child’s adult religiosity. The numbers are specific and striking.

Children whose parents attended church weekly were more than twice as likely to attend weekly themselves as adults: 26% compared to 12%. When both parents attended together with their children, that figure climbed to 41%, compared to 29% when only one parent participated. Nearly half of parents who prayed daily raised children who maintained a daily prayer practice in adulthood, compared to less than a third among parents without a regular prayer life.

Family conversations about faith proved equally significant. Adults raised in homes where faith was discussed frequently had more than double the likelihood of remaining actively engaged in religious life, including regular attendance and daily prayer. They were also substantially more likely to identify as Christian and believe in God.

The report also points to what researchers call a multigenerational ripple effect. Adults who discussed religion regularly with both parents during childhood are more likely to have those same conversations with their own children, meaning the habits formed in one generation don’t just shape one life. They shape the next generation, and the one after that.

J.P. De Gance, Communio’s founder and president, captured it plainly: “The reality is the married home is the most impactful small group. When parents are engaged in the discipleship of their children, this is where faith most often takes deep root.”

The Counterintuitive Angle: Fathers Are the Most Underutilized Asset in Faith Formation

Here is the finding that deserves the most attention from pastors, and receives the least.

The Passing the Torch report identifies fathers as a particularly important and often overlooked influence on their children’s faith. Only 17% of fathers see themselves as primarily responsible for their children’s religious formation, compared with 39% of mothers. Among teenagers who attended church with only one parent, 79% attended with their mother.

The gap between mothers and fathers in religious engagement is well documented. What the report adds is the weight of what that gap costs.

Adults who reported having a very good relationship with their father growing up showed 76% greater odds of attending church weekly, 66% higher odds of praying daily, 87% higher likelihood of considering religion highly important, and 97% higher odds of believing in God — compared to those whose father relationships were more distant or conflictual.

These are not marginal differences. They are among the largest effect sizes in the entire study. And they point to a ministry priority that most churches have significantly underinvested in: helping men become the spiritually engaged fathers their children need.

Marriage quality compounds this further. Parents who described themselves as completely satisfied in their marriages reported nearly five faith conversations with their children per week, compared to fewer than four among less satisfied couples. A happy marriage doesn’t just produce a healthier family. It produces a more spiritually engaged one.

What This Means for Your Church

At Communio, the Christian Today coverage of this report points to the same conclusion we draw from our own church partnership data: you cannot separate the health of families from the long-term vitality of a congregation.

The study’s nested model describes faith formation as a layered process, with family life at the center, surrounded and reinforced by the church community. Congregational programs, clergy leadership, and peer networks all matter, but they are most effective when they reinforce what is already happening at home.

That framing redefines the role of the local church in faith formation. The church is not the primary environment where faith is formed. The home is. The church’s most important work is equipping the home to do what only it can do: model faith daily, pray together, talk about what matters, and build the relational warmth in which belief takes root and grows.

Think about what this means for how your church invests its energy. Every resource you put into strengthening marriages is an investment in the quality and frequency of faith conversations happening in your congregation’s homes. Every effort to engage fathers more deeply in church life is an investment in the 76% greater odds of weekly attendance their children will carry into adulthood. Every step toward building a culture where families practice faith together — grace before meals, bedtime prayer, open conversations about God — is a step toward the kind of multigenerational faith transmission the report describes.

This is not additional ministry. It is the ministry, understood at its deepest level.

Jesse Smith, PhD, co-author of the report, said it directly: “Faith isn’t something kids are going to get from the culture. Our study shows that parents are the most important figures for their children’s spiritual formation. They’re the key role models, teachers, and tone-setters for giving kids the foundation in faith they’ll take with them into adulthood.”

The local church’s job is to make sure those parents are equipped, supported, and surrounded by a community that takes that mission as seriously as they do.

Take the Next Step

Read the full Christian Today coverage of the Passing the Torch report, then download the complete study to share with your leadership team and the families in your congregation.

► Read the full Christian Today article → christiantoday.com

► Download the Passing the Torch report → communio.org/passing-the-torch-report

Credit: This post draws on reporting by Obianuju Mbah for Christian Today, published June 9, 2026, and the study “Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations” by the Institute for Family Studies and Communio. Read the original Christian Today article here.