A faith-promoting organization working with hundreds of Christian churches across the U.S. attributes the rise in church attendance to an increased focus on marriage and family.
The nonprofit Communio is a group of consultants who had worked with around 440 Trinitarian churches as of the end of 2025 to strengthen marriages and relationships. The organization told the Daily Caller their work is having the added effect of getting people to attend church. They focus on figuring out the needs of church congregations and providing “best practices” to people who are single, engaged and married, according to a framework shared with the Caller. Communio said churches that have engaged with its programs for at least 12 to 23 months have seen an average of 24% growth in attendance on Sunday. (RELATED: ‘Mass Grave’ Hoax Tied To Anti-Christian Arson Might Finally Be Falling Apart)
“I’ve got to admit, and I’ve got to just confess publicly … now we have another problem, and it’s parking,” Father Matt DeGance, pastor of St. Helen Catholic Church in Vero Beach, Florida, told the Caller. “Communio’s giving us a problem with how many people are coming out. I’ve got to figure out where to put all these cars.”
Father Matt said his church’s lowest Sunday attendance now is still higher than their peak attendance in prior years. He added that it isn’t just the quantity that is growing but the quality as well, adding that healthier marriages create healthier children, which build healthier communities, countries, cultures and congregations. Matt’s brother, J.P. DeGance, founder of Communio, told the Caller he had this in mind when he formed the organization.
“Trying to change the world by focusing on politics is a lot like trying to change the weather by playing with the thermometer,” J.P. said, adding that changing laws was ineffective if the foundational units of society, such as faith and family, were left to decay.
One generation of Christian marriage well lived with change the world. @Communio is serving the local church to bring that about. Great time with @JosHershberger on The Good Citizen Podcast. Onwards!https://t.co/zZPAlKNVyz pic.twitter.com/WI1RPTcgUB
— JP De Gance (@Jpdegance) May 29, 2026
J.P. said the idea came to him after he witnessed a close familial example of “what happens when families fail in that kind of way,” and he decided to use the skills he had learned in the private sector and in public policy to help create healthy marriages.
Matt, being a “traditional” big brother, said he had addressed his brother’s plans with “healthy skepticism,” but has found for himself that the methods do work and that he has seen their fruits firsthand.
“It really transformed a number of families and marriages,” Matt said regarding the two parishes where he personally served and saw benefits from this focus on the family.
Communio said 74% of married individuals who had been struggling within their marriages reported being very satisfied or better after engaging in the organization’s Growth Journey as instructed by their member churches.
The brothers told the Caller that their course focuses on crafting “marriage enrichment” skills, including communication habits between spouses who are already on the right path, while also providing access to intensives, coaching and resources for “marriages in need.”
Matt shared the example of a family of six that had been preparing to part ways, with each spouse having already found lawyers, but who decided to save their marriage after the father invited his wife to the parish’s Valentine’s Day dinner dance and the couple attended Communio’s Navigating Us course.
After the Adventures in Marriage retreat, Communio reported seeing an 81% drop in couples saying their marriages had been headed toward divorce in Matt’s church.
However, the brothers also told the Caller that much of their success came after focusing on preventive measures, including activities and courses designed to help young adults get married and enter healthy relationships.
Outside of dances used to allow young adults to meet and mingle, Communio focuses on teaching youth healthy dating habits as well as offering marriage preparation, allowing couples to “assess compatibility and work with mentors before and after their wedding,” according to a framework document shared with the Caller. (RELATED: Lesbian Minister Cancels July 4 Celebrations In Political Protest)
Due to its focus on the individuals who will make up future families, Matt said the largest growth in church attendance is being seen among single men.
In February 2025, the Pew Research Center said a decline Americans identifying as Christian over the course of years appeared to be leveling off based on its Religious Landscape Study from 2023 to 2024. Approximately 62% of Americans called themselves Christians, a 9% drop from 2014 and a 16-point decline from 2007. Around 33% said they attend religious services at least once each month, with the number having hovered around that percentage since 2020.