In 2005, a young, Tennessee-born youth minister first felt God’s call to plant a church without walls, for people who don’t like church. Two years later, Ryan Tucker attended a week-long church start boot camp in Waco, Texas, on a scholarship from CBF, and began planning a dramatic move.  

Believing that he needed to relocate to a part of the country where Christianity was not a deep-seated part of the culture, Ryan felt drawn to one of the least churched states in America – Montana.

"Traditional church models are an abject failure out here," Tucker said. "Only 11 percent of people in Montana associate themselves with a denomination or faith." 

Fighting culture shock and the peculiar sense that in his new home, ministry was not as easily definable as it had been, Ryan and his wife, Courtney, pressed on with support from the Fellowship, focusing on investing themselves in people instead of programs. In the fall and winter of 2008, the Tuckers hosted a Bible study, attended by 12 people. 

The following spring saw the group diminished to six people. It felt like a setback. But in May, despite the decrease in numbers, The Well at Billings was formally established. Now, 20 people comprise the core group, and 35-40 show up weekly to listen to Tucker preach. 

Defining church as "not a place, but a body of people," The Well at Billings espouses non-traditional Christian tenets, avoiding the use of "churchy" words, forgoing the responsibility of owning or leasing a building so that more money can be invested in missions, and refusing to rule anything out because of "the way it might look." 

As a case in point, The Well at Billings holds Sunday evening "gatherings" at a microbrewery warehouse downtown, bearing witness to the belief that though man may look at outward things, God looks at the heart. 

Committed to helping and serving people, the church shares 50 percent of its resources with its missional partners and seeks to address the needs of the most neglected in the local community through service projects.

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship's mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.