From weeks to hours: how the Anglican Diocese of Auckland moved its Synod papers from print to online

Every year, the diocese printed and posted their Synod papers to each of its 260 to 300 members. In 2026, with XP's help, it moved the whole process online, saving around $9,000 to $10,000, the team won back weeks, and every member received their papers on the same day.

CLIENT STORY ⋅ 5 MIN READ

Client Profile

The Anglican Diocese of Auckland brings together Anglican parishes and mission ventures from the Far North to the Hauraki Plains and the Coromandel. Guided by its vision, “Loving God; Loving God’s World”, the diocese supports its churches to share the good news of Jesus, serve others and grow healthy communities.

Once a year the diocese holds Synod, its annual gathering where members consider and decide the official business of the diocese. Before Synod, each of the 260 to 300 members receives a formal summons from the Bishop and the business book: the bills and motions they will debate, prepared in writing well in advance. Alongside these is the yearbook, an important record of the past year with reports, finances, member lists and statistics. Together they run to more than 300 pages.

Challenge

For years, the Synod books were printed and posted by a mail house, which meant hard deadlines for submissions, proofs and printing. Weeks of the team’s time went into meeting them, alongside their normal jobs.

Once the books went to print, nothing could change. Each summons was signed by hand and sealed with the Bishop’s seal, members in rural areas often received their papers days after everyone else, and each parish paid $34 a book.

Solution

For the 2026 Synod, the diocese worked with XP to move the whole process online, including:

A personalised summons from the Bishop for every member, sent by email
The business book as a PDF and the yearbook on the diocese’s website
Each member’s summons generated, named and matched to their email address
Dry runs before send day, so issues were fixed ahead of time
Every email prepared as a draft, so the team checked each one before it went out

Microsoft 365

At a glance

$9,000 to $10,000

Around $9,000 to $10,000 saved for parishes, with the yearbook now free instead of $34 a book.

One afternoon

Weeks of printing and posting replaced by a single afternoon of checking and sending.

Same day

Every member received their papers on the same day, including rural members who used to wait longest.

The challenge: a labour-intensive print and post process

Synod business comes from members, and the timeline is set by the diocese’s statutes. Work starts in early July, leaving about five weeks to gather everything, take it through a legal business process and get it to members. For years, the books were then printed and posted by a mail house, which meant hard deadlines for submissions, proofs and printing. Weeks of the team’s time went into meeting them, alongside their normal jobs.

Once the books went to print, nothing could change. Late items and mistakes were hard to fix, and the legal business committee had little time to work through complex motions before Synod.

The summons was its own careful process. Each one was prepared for an individual member, signed by hand and sealed with the Bishop’s seal. It was a beautiful document that made people feel special to receive. Then the summonses had to reach the printer, sometimes with a team member driving them over themselves, to go out with the books.

Post was uneven too. Members in rural areas often received their papers days after everyone else. And each parish paid for its copies of the yearbook: $34 a book, including postage.

The solution: personalised Synod papers sent by email

For the 2026 Synod, the diocese went fully digital. Submissions came in electronically, the business book was published as a PDF, the yearbook went on the diocese’s website, and every member received an email with their own personalised summons from the Bishop. Each email also linked to the business book and to the Synod hub, where members could register and find the latest information.

XP did the technical heavy lifting, so the diocese’s team could stay focused on the content and stay in control of every send.

A formal summons, in digital form

The summons still needed to feel like an official document from the Bishop. The team built a template in InDesign with an electronic signature and the Bishop’s seal. (Scanning the seal left it flat, so the team photographed it instead.) The Bishop approved the list of members to be summoned, rather than signing around 300 by hand.

The right summons to the right person

XP generated and named each member’s summons file and matched it to their email address, with a personal, time-limited link for each member.

Tested before the day

XP answered the team’s “what if this goes wrong?” questions and ran dry runs ahead of time, so issues nobody had foreseen were fixed before send day rather than on it.

The diocese in control of every email

All emails were prepared as drafts in the diocese’s shared inbox. Nothing went out automatically at the press of a button. The team checked every email, summons and link before sending it.

Send day: every summons checked and sent in one afternoon

On Monday 10 August, the team split into pairs to work through the drafts, checking that each member got the right summons. They started at 11am, and all of the roughly 290 emails were checked and sent that afternoon.

What used to take weeks and a mail house now took a single afternoon, with the diocese in charge from start to finish. Instead of waiting a day or two for a third party, the team got answers straight away from XP, who was on hand throughout the day.

“Going electronic gave us a couple of extra weeks and far more control. We weren’t locked in by print deadlines or waiting on a mail house, and on the day we checked every summons ourselves before it went out. A mailout that used to take weeks was done in an afternoon.”

Sonia Maugham, Diocesan Manager, Anglican Diocese of Auckland

The results: savings, time back and a paperless Synod

Savings for parishes

Around $9,000 to $10,000 saved for parishes. Last year parishes paid $34 a book, including postage, for 260 to 300 copies. This year the yearbook was free.

Weeks back in the timeline

Without print deadlines, the diocese gained a couple of extra weeks. The legal business committee had a whole extra week to work through the complex motions, so business was better prepared and less likely to need fixing on the floor of Synod.

Room to make changes

With everything online, late changes and corrections could still be made, where print once locked everything in.

Capacity for the day job

Fewer hands needed on deck, and more flexibility around when the work happens.

Every member, the same day

Rural members no longer wait longer than everyone else, so no one has an advantage.

A formal summons that still lands well

The team’s biggest worry was losing the sense of occasion. They received no negative feedback.

More engagement

Every member got a working link to the Synod hub, with live information and registration.

“We couldn’t have done it without Charles. He dug into the detail, ran dry runs with us and was there on the day, so it went with no hiccups. It’s given our team capacity back for their day-to-day work, and now that we know this technology exists, we’re already finding other processes we can use it for.”

The diocesan team, Anglican Diocese of Auckland