History
St Thomas’ was constituted in 1844 as an independent Anglican church. In 1938 the church moved from a city centre location to the growing western fringes of the city.
The church has been served by a series of gifted evangelical clergy throughout its history. Since 1945, our Rectors have been the Revd George Duncan, the Revd Dr Geoffrey Bromily, the Revd Philip Hacking, the Revd Gordon Bridger, the Revd John Wesson, the Revd Dennis Lennon, the Revd Mike Parker and the Revd Ian Hopkins. The Revd David McCarthy served as our rector from September 2014 to end of January 2024.
Under the ministry of the Revd Dennis Lennon two major church planting initiatives into the Scottish Episcopal Church took place. In 1985 around seventy members of St Thomas’ moved to St Paul’s and St George’s church in Edinburgh city centre to help renew that congregation, whose membership had dwindled to under twenty. The renewal of that congregation was a direct consequence of meetings between Dennis Lennon and the then Bishop of Edinburgh, the Right Revd Alistair Haggart. Three years later, another congregation was planted a few miles away at Emmanuel, Clermiston. Following these initiatives it seemed right for the "mother" church to also join the Scottish Episcopal Church and St Thomas' did so in 1991.
Jesus said, "It is better to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35). It has been said that St Thomas' gave away not only its people but also its significant reputation. As the Lord is generous to us, so we too seek to go on being generous. As a consequence of earlier initiatives St Thomas’ was transformed from being a church with a gathered congregation to a more local church mainly, but not exclusively, serving the community of Corstorphine and west Edinburgh.
In 2018/19 after considerable prayer and with huge support from much of the Anglican Communion, St Thomas' was restored to its former status as an independent Anglican congregation.
In February 2021 St Thomas' became one of the founding churches of ACE - the Anglican Convocation Europe - a group of churches that seek to bring together, under the authority of the Bible, faithful Anglicans, diverse in expression and contemporary in practice. ACE is part of the worldwide fellowship of Anglicans brought together by the Global Anglican Futures Conference (Gafcon) and under the provision by the Gafcon Primates of episcopal oversight for Europe.
For the future, we want to follow Jesus and His apostles: "He proclaimed the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ - with all boldness and without hindrance!". (Acts 28:31)
Page updated 5 March 2024