He served a short title curacy in Skelmersdale (just over a year, compared with the usual requirement of three years),[2] before taking a post in Oxford as Librarian of Latimer House, the headquarters and library of a conservative evangelical pressure group (subsequently the Latimer Trust, without property, but maintaining its library at Oak Hill Theological College, London) during which time he also served as curate of St Ebbe's, a central Oxford evangelical parish church.

[3] Toon's work repeatedly stressed the importance of the "Historic Formularies" of the Anglican tradition, defined in the Preface to the Declaration of Assent as "the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons".

His work was marked by clarity of presentation and strength of persuasion, attracting praise from supporters and critical attention from antagonists.

[citation needed] He often wrote and spoke about the controversies in the Anglican Communion concerning issues of liturgical reform, the ordination of women, and the reception of homosexuals in the Church, all of which he took a strong conservative line.

There was a private family funeral in California followed by a public memorial service organised by the Prayer Book Society of the USA at All Saints' Church, Wynnewood, Pennsylvania on 24 July 2009.