Let’s start at the very beginning...

Josh and his friend Peter founded Digital Church Toolkit in 2018 out of a shared desire to serve and equip the UK Church. 

However, their story began way before that whilst studying at a bible college in The States, with family and friends connections in the UK and a shared passion for the UK Church, a friendship was formed.

Josh, a graphic designer by training, was working in a boutique print studio and freelancing for churches in the UK, US, and Europe. He’s always been actively involved in ministry, serving in and working for various churches around the world. At his core, he’s passionate about seeing the UK Church express the beauty and glory of God through innovative design, creativity, and communication. 

Peter graduated with a BA Hons in Politics and Communications in 2014 and has worked for the last ten years in marketing, event management, and communications; from managing Christian conferences with 1,000+ attendees to planning gospel marketing campaigns that reached tens of thousands. From a young age, Peter has actively been serving in the local Church; from cleaning the toilets as a teenager to working in operations for a large UK Church. He longs to see the UK Church walk in the fullness of Truth and play an active role in the renewal of our cities, towns, and villages.

How it all began.

In May 2018, when Josh and Peter were both working freelance, which can sometimes be a lonely experience having your bedroom as your office, they began to reconnect. They started talking regularly and quickly realised that there was a shared desire to serve and equip the Church in the UK in a greater way.

So, Digital Church Toolkit was born. 🎉

It began as an Instagram account, posting content to inspire the UK Church and exploring if there was even a need and desire for digital comms training.

Over time, Digital Church Toolkit’s presence grew and it became clear that the need and desire did indeed exist and on a large scale. So, they dedicated their spare time to creating content, developing training and taking on smaller projects. They did this whilst working 9-5 jobs as freelancers and in ministry.

Then 2019 came and made itself known as a landmark year for them both. In February the first training event, ‘Church Social Media Made Simple’ took place in Manchester UK and that same week Josh was diagnosed with cancer. For Josh and Peter, this brought life into focus and a decision was made to transfer Digital Church Toolkit from a side hustle into a fully-fledged business. Talk about upscaling.

A business plan on the back of a pizza box.

Fast forward a few months of treatment, faith-filled prayers and a ‘how-good-can-it-get’ approach,  Josh was on the road to recovery. Digital Church Toolkit were fast approaching 10,000 followers on Instagram and Peter had quit his job working for a Church in the Midlands. They sat in a lobby of a London hotel, wrote a full-scale business plan on the back of a pizza box and figured out how they could serve the 50,000 Churches in the UK (we still have the box).

The dreams have always been big, right from the beginning: to raise up a learning community of digital ambassadors in every Church, to develop eCourses to train and equip, and to provide creative services through our Studio. But first, we needed a team.

By January 2020, Josh and Peter had grown the client base enough to support team expansion. Phoebe joined the team to take care of social media and Finn to help support the growing network of Churches that were connecting with Digital Church Toolkit for advice, consultancy and coaching. 

When a crisis hits, we respond. 

In March, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the team dedicated their time to supporting the UK Church as they made the migration to digital and conducted free one-to-one consultancy sessions for hundreds of churches. Throughout 2020, Digital Church Toolkit was able to work with over 350 Churches as customers.

Partnerships for the future.

Growth continued into 2021. It was our privilege to serve thousands of UK church leaders, staff members and volunteers through our free monthly webinars. As team members came and went, clients and customers continued to increase.

In 2021 we also became friends with CPO: Christian, Publishing & Outreach and quickly realised a shared purpose - to serve the UK Church with communication to advance the Gospel. On September 1st 2021, Digital Church Toolkit formally became part of CPO and together we launched a new creative agency, Common Good Studio. And as we moved in 2022, a new strategic partnership was formed with Yeomans, which see Yeomans providing Digital Church Toolkit and Common Good Studio with commercial support. 

But, in the midst of change, transition and partnership, our mission remains the same. To provide resources, training and support, to the UK Church so they can adapt to and thrive in the digital age. And that is what we will continue to do in 2022 and beyond...