Would Jesus be on Instagram? St. Peter, Erindale thinks so – and with a new year-long project about to begin, the parish is enhancing its social media presence to engage, inspire and invite people into a deeper connection with faith.
“Social Media for the Soul” is an initiative that aims to build a sustainable model of creating engaging and effective social media content that leads people to Christ. The plan involves identifying target audiences, developing content, and building and interacting with communities on various social media platforms, all led by a freelance professional and supported by a team of volunteers.
The project will be funded in part by a $40,000 Cast and Learn grant from the diocese. Launched in 2023 as part of the Cast the Net visioning process, Cast and Learn provides one-time grants to parishes wanting to innovate, learn and grow as they reach out to people who aren’t currently connected to the Church. St. Peter’s will supplement the grant with $40,000 of its own funds to cover costs related to equipment, software and paid ads.
Natasha Bond, a churchwarden, communications strategist and longtime member of the parish, is leading “Social Media for the Soul” alongside an existing communications committee. She says now is the perfect time to enhance St. Peter’s existing efforts online.
“I think if Christ came today, he’d be a number one influencer on all platforms. Back in biblical times, he stood up on the mountain and everyone followed him. This is our mountain,” she says. “It’s Cast the Net, and I want to put us on the ‘net’ properly.”
Like many other churches, St. Peter’s has been present online for years. With an active Facebook page, a reliable website and weekly hybrid worship services, the parish community is already comfortable with the idea of technology. The idea now, says Ms. Bond, is to make its efforts more consistent and strategic.
“We don’t have a dedicated staff member who can strategically think about what we post,” she says.
To that end, her first step is to hire a freelance social media expert for one year who will set up the structures, templates and training the parish needs to carry its social media presence forward. She envisions that person building categories of posts that can be used as models for future content. These could include testimonies from members of St. Peter’s; ministry moments that share the details, highlights and outcomes of church events; clips from sermons, bible studies, podcasts and books; quotes and memes; and interactive challenges, questions and polls.
The freelancer will create a content calendar based on the categories of posts and adjust it as the year progresses and the team learns more about what works best for its goals and audiences.
“The idea is to build that framework so it’s sustainable,” she says. “I would hope that within a year we’re all experts somewhere.”
The parish also plans to spend some money on paid ads on Facebook and Instagram. Changes to the platforms’ algorithms in recent years have lowered the organic or free exposure most pages receive, making it more important to promote or boost content to make sure it’s being seen by followers and other targeted audiences.
“It’s not enough to just put it up there and they will come,” says Ms. Bond. “Ultimately, you want to be able to make sure you get it in front of the right people.”
The “right people” will include both members of St. Peter’s, who the team hopes will engage more deeply with the parish and their faith, and members of the surrounding community who are looking for hope, meaning and purpose in their lives. Ms. Bond says her motivation is less about growing St. Peter’s numerically and more about helping people in their relationship with Christ.
“I think ultimately the goal of everyone working on this project is to find ways to have people engage more with St. Peter’s, but with an ultimate goal of helping them experience God in the way that God meant them to experience Him,” says Ms. Bond. “If, after engaging with this experience, they go to a different church, even if it’s not a different Anglican church, that’s okay.”
Measuring the project’s success will involve establishing a baseline of the parish’s current levels of reach and engagement on social media and charting any changes over the year. In addition to tracking the numbers provided by Facebook and Instagram’s built-in analytics, the team will conduct brief surveys and interviews, compile case studies and assess comments and reviews to get a sense of people’s attitude toward the parish.
The team hopes its model, and the lessons it learns along the way, will help other Anglican parishes who are looking to enhance their social media engagement.
“I think every parish has an opportunity to do more online, do more on social media,” says Ms. Bond. “It might look a little different for each parish, though.”
As St. Peter’s prepares to celebrate its 200th anniversary in 2025, Ms. Bond says she hopes “Social Media for the Soul” will be one more step toward a future where the parish remains a place of faith and belonging in Mississauga.
“It starts as a campaign,” she says, “but it needs to become a way of life.”
