Communio Partners with Gianforte Family Foundation to Strengthen Marriages Across Montana
BILLINGS, MT — Nonprofit organization Communio is partnering with the Gianforte Family Foundation on a bold statewide initiative aimed at reversing the breakdown of the family and reinforcing marriage. The effort is already reaching more than 55,000 Montanans and transforming lives across dozens of communities.
Since 2020, Communio’s data-informed relationship ministry model, supported in Montana by Gianforte Family Foundation funding, has grown from a pilot program in Billings to a statewide network of 43 churches. Together, they’ve hosted more than 230 engagement events and 68 “Growth Journeys,” offering everything from date nights to skills-based relationship classes. These programs have introduced nearly 20,000 first-time guests to Montana churches and helped increase Sunday church attendance by an average of 23 percent.
At the heart of the initiative is a conviction long held by Gianforte Family Foundation Trustee Susan Gianforte, who joined Communio’s board in 2024.
“Our family foundation considers Communio a top priority because we’re trying to get upstream from the breakdown of the family and the impact that it has on kids,” said Gianforte. “A strong family, married parents, and raising children in an intact home will solve a lot of problems before they even happen.”
Montana has seen a significant rise in single-parent households, according to a 2022 Lending Tree report. In 2020, 20.3 percent of all parent-child families in Montana were led by single parents.
Children from single-parent households often face challenges, such as housing instability and overcrowded living conditions, which can affect their academic performance and emotional well-being. Single-parent households, especially those with multiple children, often experience higher poverty rates, leading to increased food insecurity and limited access to healthcare. Programs such as Healthy Montana Kids (HMK) have expanded Medicaid and CHIP eligibility, now covering approximately 120,000 children.
Montana’s churches are at the center of Communio’s mission to restore traditional families and healthy relationships, using Communio’s “Engagement Ladder” to reach individuals and couples at every stage—from first contact to long-term transformation.
At Church for the City in Billings, this framework has redefined their ministry. “That simple ladder changed everything for us,” said Pastor Kalen Brown. “What Communio brought to us wasn’t just strategy—it was hope.”
This powerful partnership is changing lives.
According to Pastor Brown, a husband came to Christ and was baptized after experiencing transformation in his marriage. Other relationships are reportedly the strongest they’ve been in decades.
In Missoula, Waypoint Church has embraced the Adventures in Marriage (AIM) program, hosting events that blend fun outreach with practical skills-building. “This experience was transformative,” said Morgan Oie, Waypoint’s Marriage Ministry Director. “It provided us with tools, and not just theories, to strengthen our communication and family life.”
Waypoint now plans to partner with other churches to rotate AIM conferences throughout the year.
Gianforte views Montana as a proving ground for the nation.
“Because Montana is a small state, we believe we can reach a tipping point here, demonstrating the viability of bringing Communio’s model to larger states with more people, more churches, and more volunteers,” she said. “We’re seeing signs already: improved childhood outcomes, lower divorce rates, stronger marriages. That’s the future we’re working toward.”
In the entrepreneurial spirit that defines both the Gianfortes’ and Communio’s strategy, the initiative remains grounded in experimentation, adaptation and measurable impact. “My husband and I were software entrepreneurs,” said Gianforte. “We know what it means to start small, test, improve and scale. That’s exactly what we see Communio doing.”
The foundation’s investment is not only bearing fruit in lives changed today—it’s planting seeds for generational transformation.
“I strongly recommend Communio for any church, in any community, city or state, that wants to strengthen relationships,” said Gianforte. “They are cost-conscious, pragmatic and deeply grounded in data. If anything has a chance to reverse the breakdown of the family and strengthen marriage in America, it’s this.”
With nearly 5 percent of the state’s population already touched by Communio’s work and more expansion underway, the Gianforte Family Foundation is helping Montana lead the way by demonstrating how faith communities can restore marriage and family, one relationship at a time.
Communio is a nonprofit ministry that trains and equips churches to share the Gospel through the renewal of healthy relationships, marriages and the family.
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