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This Father’s Day, new research offers a powerful reminder that fathers matter far more than our culture often admits.

For years, fathers have been told they are important providers, coaches, and role models. All true. But new research suggests they may also be one of the strongest influences on whether their children continue practicing their faith as adults.

Communio, the ministry I founded to strengthen families through local churches, recently partnered with the Institute for Family Studies on a report drawing on data from more than 60,000 Americans. The findings suggest that fathers play a far greater role in passing faith to the next generation than they realize.

Churches ask why young adults disengage from religion. Parents wonder what they can do. But is the reality surprisingly simple? Before children are influenced by a pastor, youth leader, or Christian teacher, they are watching their fathers.

The report, “Passing the Torch: How Faith Moves Across Generations,” found that many fathers underestimate the influence they have. Only 17% of fathers said they were primarily responsible for how their children learn about religion, compared with 39% of mothers. That suggests many fathers see faith formation as something led by pastors, youth leaders, or Sunday school teachers.

But the research tells a different story.

Children who attended church weekly with both mother and father were significantly more likely to attend church weekly as adults than children who attended with only one parent. Similar patterns appeared when researchers examined prayer, belief in God, reading sacred texts, and the importance of religion in everyday life.

The message is straightforward: children notice whether faith is simply something their father talks about or something he actively lives.

The report also found that the quality of a father’s relationship with his children matters. Adults who described their relationship with their father as very good were substantially more likely to attend church, pray regularly, believe in God, and describe religion as highly important in their lives.

Most encouragingly, the report found that when parents regularly discuss faith with their children, those children are twice as likely to attend church, pray daily, and say religion is very important to them in young adulthood.

That should encourage fathers who sometimes feel ill-equipped to guide their children spiritually. Many fathers worry that they don’t know enough theology, don’t read the Bible enough, or don’t have answers to difficult questions.

But influencing children begins much earlier and in much simpler ways.

Children are paying attention long before they ask difficult theological questions. They notice whether faith is taken seriously, whether prayer is natural, whether church attendance is a priority, and whether Christianity shapes everyday decisions. Fathers are teaching far more often than they realize.

The research also highlights an uncomfortable truth. A father’s influence is strongest when it is woven into the ordinary rhythms of family life. Research on unmarried, nonresident fathers has found that the vast majority see their children a limited number of days each month within a few years of separation. Fewer shared meals, conversations, and routines inevitably mean fewer opportunities to pass on values and faith.

For churches, this means marriage and family stability are not separate from faith formation. They help create the environment in which faith is most often transmitted.

None of this should discourage fathers. Quite the opposite.

The fathers who leave the deepest mark are not necessarily those with extraordinary talent, wealth, or status. More often, they are the fathers who are present, engaged, and consistent. They build trust. They worship with their children. They create homes where faith becomes part of ordinary life.

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This Father’s Day, dads should remember something our culture too often forgets: fathers matter. Not just as providers. Not just as protectors. Not just as role models. But as singularly important people shaping the faith of the next generation.

Our children are watching. And dad may be preaching a sermon every day… whether he realizes it or not.

J.P. De Gance is the founder and president of Communio, a nonprofit ministry that trains and equips churches, focusing on the renewal of healthy relationships, marriages, and the family. He is the co-author of Endgame: The Church’s Strategic Move to Save Faith and Family in America.