At first glance, Captain Bhreagh Rowe’s Instagram account is a collection of bright, happy memories with smiling photos and laughing children, artful images, charming graphics and powerful quotes. And with more than 7,300 followers, @the.rowehouse has a substantial audience. Captain Rowe, community ministries officer, St. Albert Church and Community Centre, Alta., is not trying to be an “influencer,” but rather an image-bearer of Christ. As you scroll through the posts, watch videos and read what Captain Rowe writes, you see a family with a deep connection to God.

A Place for Connection

On Captain Rowe’s Instagram account, you can find inspirational posts and Bible quotes, fun Instagram reels, book reviews and recommendations, marriage and parenting tips ,and real-life applications of Scripture on family, womanhood, parenthood and personal development. Though her social media caters to a wide Christian community, she never shies away from sharing about The Salvation Army. She wears her epaulettes proudly.

Captain Rowe’s social media ministry began in 2015 after she had her first child. Captain Rowe struggled to adjust to her role as a mom and the new lifestyle that came with it. So, she began journaling to help organize her mind and quiet her thoughts. “I was encouraged by some friends to start writing a blog,” says Captain Rowe. “It grew into social media naturally.”

As her writing turned into semi-regular Instagram posts, which turned into a growing following, Captain Rowe discovered a community of people just like her—people of faith with normal lives and normal problems. “No matter if you have a platform or not, as soon as you share with others, you automatically realize you’re not alone. You’re not at all weird and the stuff you’re going through is super common. You can connect with people on that normal level,” she says. 

Once she realized this, social media became a new avenue for Captain Rowe, her husband, Captain Daniel Rowe, and their three sons, to point their lives back to Jesus Christ.

A Family Mission

“Our family does everything with a team mindset,” says Captain Rowe. So, when she found that sharing marriage, family and parenting discussions on

Instagram seemed to hit home with her followers, it became a place to share experiences together as a family.

A few years into running her Instagram account, Captain Rowe and her family developed a vision statement for themselves. It reads: “Our family exists to be image-bearers of God and to fulfil Jesus’words by living out ‘your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’ in our family, our community, our relationships and our ministry. We will fearlessly and courageously live out our calling as a family, and create generations of passionate Jesus followers.”

This vision statement not only resonates with their Christian followers, but it allows the Rowe family to ground themselves and their decisions in God. “We’re a family on a mission together,” says Captain Rowe. “We try to live every moment on purpose. We know we exist to be image-bearers of God in everything we do.

“It’s helped us realize that we’re just a family working as a team and we’re only as strong as our weakest member. And sometimes our weakest member just needs a nap.”

Practising Joy

As part of their social media ministry, Captains Rowe host a weekly podcast called “Sacred Cows.” It emerged out of the necessity of finding new, creative ways to reach people online and at home during COVID-19. The purpose of the podcast is to demystify the divine by talking about the Bible in a way that helps listeners understand just how applicable it is to their everyday lives, even when it seems so far away.

A “sacred cow” is a figure of speech that refers to something that is immune to question or criticism. “I have a deep desire for people to really know God and to understand the promises and the things he says in the Bible. The Bible is not a sacred cow. We want to talk about it,” says Captain Rowe. “That’s why we share on social media—to show how we make Bible-based decisions. We are all called to be image-bearers of Christ. God calls us to be honest, to share with each other, love each other and push each other to grow.”

Whatever form it takes, the purpose of Captain Rowe’s social media ministry is clear: “We’re all on this journey together. We’re all learning together. We want to laugh and have fun and practise joy. We are called to live these joyful lives and to try our best to point everything back to God.”

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