Revitalisation: Breathing New Life into Existing Churches
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.
Church revitalisation is a unique and essential part of renewing the life of existing churches and communities.
When you plant a new church, you begin with fresh DNA in a new environment — often starting from scratch with new systems, structures, and vision. Revitalisation, however, is something altogether different. It’s about bringing a new culture into an existing institution — a living, breathing community with its own history, relationships, and ways of doing things.
It requires not just strategy, but sensitivity. Layers of change management, emotional intelligence, and the ability to impart vision within long-established frameworks.
From Decline to Renewal: St Leonard’s, Shoreditch
In 2019, Toby was invited by SAINT and the Bishop of Stepney to revitalise one of East London’s most well-known churches — St Leonard’s, Shoreditch, famously featured in the TV show Rev.
The parish had been without a senior leader for two years after the retirement of a vicar who had served for 33 years. Decline had set in, operational systems were tangled, and lay leadership was underdeveloped — all compounded by the disruption of COVID.
The church sat in one of the most strategic locations in East London, yet it was struggling to sustain itself.
Toby’s task was to help St Leonard’s rediscover life and mission. That began behind the scenes: resetting operations, aligning systems, resolving contracts, addressing tenancy issues, and re-establishing financial sustainability by maximising the use of assets like the vicarage and auxiliary buildings.
But revitalisation isn’t only administrative — it’s deeply relational. Over six months, Toby worked with the SAINT team to rebuild trust and rekindle vision within the congregation. Together, they introduced members from the wider SAINT community to lay spiritual and relational foundations for a new season.
In 2021, St Leonard’s launched a new evening service that became the spark of renewal — soon giving rise to Alpha courses, small groups, and visible community growth. What began as a fragile restart grew into a vibrant worshipping community, reconnecting Shoreditch’s long history with a living present.
St Leonard’s Shoreditch grew from 19 people to 200–250 across three services by 2023 enabled by a full operational and cultural reset ensuring long-term stability.
The leadership transitioned successfully during this time to Mark Nelson, who planted a third congregation and continued growth beyond sustainability goals.
A Neighbourhood Vision: St Barnabas, Homerton
Following the work at Shoreditch, Toby was asked to continue pastoring the evening congregation while also taking on St Barnabas, Homerton, a neighbouring parish in one of England’s six most deprived communities. The context was very different — a neighbourhood church rather than a city-centre one — and required a deep commitment to mission and compassion as well as organisational renewal.
The systems at St Barnabas needed updating and integrating with the wider SAINT network. Toby worked with the existing team on cultural change and expectation-setting, helping them grow into a unified, vibrant community.
The church already hosted a thriving food pantry and open community lunches, but these ministries needed support to become sustainable and safe. Within nine months, the church moved from being three separate sites to one congregation across two locations, focusing energy and unity around Sunday worship and local engagement.
During this time:
Attendance grew from 40 to over 90 within the first year.
Local outreach was strengthened through a food pantry, open community lunches, youth service, and baby group.
Three sites were unified into one cohesive community with revitalised worship and mission.
Revitalisation here wasn’t about replacing what existed — it was about walking alongside a community to strengthen what was already there, honouring its history while creating space for new life.
The Heart of Revitalisation
Across both parishes, revitalisation meant holding together organisational health, cultural renewal, and relational leadership — helping communities rediscover the joy of shared purpose and sustainable mission.
It’s not a quick fix. It’s patient, pastoral, and profoundly hopeful work — the kind that takes seriously both the story that has been and the story that could be.
Translating Renewal to the Australian Context
As an advisor to LUMN, Toby has shared these insights with leaders exploring what church renewal might look like in the Australian landscape.
At LUMN, we’re equipping churches and movements to think deeply about revitalisation — how to renew existing communities in ways that both honour the past and make space for the new.
If you’re leading in this space — discerning how to bring fresh life to an existing church, movement, or institution — we’d love to help you think through what that could look like in your context.
If you’re shaping the future of a church or movement and want a trusted partner to help you reimagine what’s possible — let’s start a conversation.
