From Maintenance to Mission: Lessons in Courageous Renewal
By Annie Phillips & Rev. Toby Lewis Thomas
An ordained Anglican priest, Toby has been involved in planting, growing, and revitalising churches across London. His work spans a wide breadth of church traditions—from helping to launch charismatic evangelical communities to supporting mission and renewal among Anglo-Catholic parishes—always with a desire to see people encounter the good news in ways that are both faithful and fresh.
Before entering ordained ministry, Toby spent over a decade in the creative industries. He co-owned a creative agency in Shoreditch, East London, partnering with global brands to bring bold ideas to life. Later, as Global Creative Director at Alpha International, he led teams shaping resources and campaigns used by churches around the world.
Toby’s particular gift lies in catalysing vision: helping leaders articulate the “life that wants to live in this place,” organising teams so ideas can take shape, and nurturing creative and spiritual leadership one-on-one.
In the wake of the pandemic, many Anglo-Catholic parishes in Hackney and Islington found themselves facing a stark reality. Congregations had declined. Finances were stretched thin. And the daily pressures of keeping a parish afloat left little space for mission.
The challenge wasn’t lack of faith or effort — it was a mismatch between inherited systems and the demands of post-COVID London.
It was into this context that Toby stepped, serving as a Catholic Mission Enabler for the Diocese of London. His task: to help parishes move from maintenance to mission, drawing from the richness of the Catholic tradition not as a burden of upkeep but as a wellspring of creativity and renewal.
With the interest of bringing some of these insights into the Australian context and walking alongside churches seeking to move from maintenance to mission, Annie interviewed Toby about the journey he has been on over the last couple of years with churches in East London.
Hackney and Islington are two of London’s youngest and most deprived boroughs — a third of residents are under nineteen, and they contain the highest number of socially rented households in the UK. The scale of need was immense, but so too was the opportunity. Backed by a £9.4 million Diocesan Investment Programme grant, the question became: how can this funding truly serve mission, not just maintenance?
Laying the Foundations: Mission Readiness
As Toby began working with local clergy, one truth became clear: many priests were carrying heavy administrative burdens that kept them from their true calling. Instead of leading people in prayer, mission, and sacrament, they were often acting as building officers and compliance managers — overworked, isolated, and unable to use their gifts to their fullness.
To shift that, the first step wasn’t strategy — it was relationship. Listening. Understanding context. Creating breathing room for imagination again.
But listening also revealed another kind of need: mission readiness. Many parishes simply weren’t set up to sustain new initiatives. Systems were outdated, finances paper-based, and data management inconsistent. Some churches still scheduled bookings in a handwritten calendar kept on-site.
So the early phase of the work focused on operational renewal — helping churches modernise systems, implement GDPR compliance, and share administrative support across parishes. In time, this foundational work created the capacity for clergy to focus again on people, prayer, and purpose.
Building New Capacity: Missioners and Multiplication
Once the groundwork was laid, the next phase centred on leadership and capacity. Even when funding was available, many parishes struggled to translate money into mission — to find the right people for the right roles.
In response, Toby helped create a Missioners Team: a group of practitioners serving across multiple parishes, receiving coaching, and aligned around shared vision and values. This approach meant that even smaller, resource-limited parishes could access high-quality leadership without losing local identity.
In one cluster of Hackney parishes, this collaboration led to five new worshipping communities — three of them focused on children and young people. Led by Lisa, a gifted children’s minister, the work has connected families, schools, and Sunday worship in fresh ways. None of the parishes could have funded her role alone; together, they could.
That’s the essence of the model: shared mission, shared ownership, shared renewal.
Learning to Tell the Story
As systems and teams strengthened, another layer of work emerged — helping churches tell their story again.
Many Anglo-Catholic parishes ran beautiful worship and deep community projects, but lacked the digital fluency to communicate beyond their walls. The project began equipping clergy and volunteers with simple tools: how to make digital flyers, run newsletters, or post effectively on social media.
At Holy Redeemer, the combination of posters and consistent online presence doubled Sunday attendance. It’s a simple truth with profound implications: when churches learn to communicate clearly and creatively, people find their way in.
What We’re Learning
Across this work, one conviction stands out: renewal begins beneath the surface. Mission doesn’t start with big campaigns or perfect strategies. It starts with readiness, relationships, and rediscovering the joy of shared creativity.
And it’s not limited to London. Whether in the UK or Australia, the invitation is the same: to reimagine the structures of church life so that mission can flow again — grounded in tradition, but alive with innovation.
At LUMN, we, with the advice of people like Toby are exploring what this kind of renewal could look like in the Australian context — how dioceses, churches, and movements can move from maintenance to mission, from isolation to collaboration, and from survival to flourishing.
If you’re shaping the future of a church or movement and need a trusted partner to help you reimagine what’s possible — and bring it to life — let’s start a conversation.
