Consultancy & Training

LAPIDO MEDIA offers consultancy and training in media planning and issues management for faith-based organizations engaged in social change. We also offer media training, particularly to those working cross-culturally. Our connections with the media, the academy, and international agencies multiply the leaven-effect of small but vital civil society organisations, so building capacity for social and spiritual transformation at the grass roots. Travel and service in countries all over the world, together with 25 years' experience of working with BME groups in Britain give us special insights and contacts in a fast-changing scene.

Recent clients have included the Save St Mark’s Action Group which won its fight against a property developer to turn the church into a ‘wellness centre’.  This was an unusual project coordinating a broad-based group of local residents, professionals working pro bono, and celebrities to save the last community space in North Mayfair from what one activist called ‘commercial vulturism’.   Publicity was an important part of the community’s fight, and three books of cuttings and TV coverage on the opening day of the Planning Inquiry formed an important aspect of the evidence to the Inspector.

Planning Consultant John Parmiter said afterwards:  ‘Thank you for all you have done to keep the campaign alive. None of it would have happened without you. Really!’

BibleLands has been working with Christian partners in the Middle East for over 150 years. When they took the decision to employ a press and PR officer in 2007, they sought the mentoring of Lapido Media in order to ensure all relevant avenues were explored.

Emma Boucher, press and PR officer, said ‘Working with Lapido Media has provided me with an invaluable insight into ensuring that our message spreads beyond the Christian media, and into the mainstream, where the experiences of our overseas partners need to be heard. She has a remarkable vision and I always come away from my meetings feeling inspired’. 

Other clients include the Nigerian-led Jesus House for all Nations, recognized by The Daily Telegraph as ‘the fastest growing church in Britain today’. A six-month consultancy to mainstream this important group’s issues at a time of controversy over African-derived churches in London resulted in a symposium in Westminster entitled ‘Christianity or the Occult? Emerging Trends in the African Diaspora’ for more than 100 professionals, journalists, Africanists and church leaders. It was sponsored by the Metropolitan Police and the Church Mission Society, and co-chaired by Richard Dowden, Director of the Royal African Society, Pete Broadbent, the Bishop of Willesden, and Constantia Pennie, Founder of the Association of Black Social Workers. Unusually, award-winning journalist Angus Stickler of the BBC Today Programme, who broke the original story of so-called ‘child witches’ in London, gave a paper about what motivated him, and he shared the platform with leaders of the Nigerian and Congolese churches, Pastor Agu Irukwu and Jean-Bosco Kanyemesha. Painstaking work building relationships across a myriad discourses resulted in a successful event that warranted seven pages on BBC Online alone – and a subtle but important shift in the national discourse that had threatened to become increasingly misinformed and inflammatory.

Keynote Speaker Anthony Gittins, Professor of Missiology from Chicago’s Catholic Theological Union said of the event:

‘In a world in which many good people do nothing, Lapido Media is a fine example of an organization not willing to be persuaded that there is nothing to be done. I was truly impressed by their determination to level mountains and raise valleys, so as to bring people to a clearer and more respectful understanding of each other and of issues that threaten to divide them. Jonathan Sacks' phrase ‘the dignity of difference’ is exemplified in their work.’

Faithworks hired us to help focus their public affairs work on diversity regulation. The result was a new focus on government intervention, and a media event in Westminster that showcased five Christian charities speaking up about local authority overkill. The heavy-handed application of well-intentioned regulation against the voluntary sector can strangle the goose that lays the golden egg. Civil society organisations know their users better than regulators, and they know what works. Public accountability through the media is essential where small groups are willing but vulnerable adjuncts of public policy. The Daily Mail, the Guardian and the BBC all covered the issues raised.

Faithworks Executive Director Joy Madeiros said of our input:

‘Jenny Taylor’s in-depth understanding of religious discourse and her grasp of the role the Church has played in interfaith relations helped us to gain an overview of the world we were entering, and a sense of confidence about our strategic intentions, neither of which would have been possible without her intervention.’

The Tropical Health and Education Trust punch way above their weight and budget, and do not have either a media strategy or a press officer. And yet the work they are doing with NHS volunteers giving their time in Africa and elsewhere to train local staff and prevent the scandalous brain drain of qualified medical staff to the West is one of the great untold stories of our time. Their reputation is formidable to the few who know – so much so that they launched the World Health Organization’s Annual Report. Lapido Media was hired – for a very small sum! - to help ensure their messages were heard amid the WHO PR din.

Contact us here to discuss your needs for media training, strategic planning, or just to help you focus on the story you want to tell.