Empowered, not dependent: how Baptist Churches of New Zealand took control of Baptist leader registration

Every year, around 250 pastors and leaders register with Baptist Churches of New Zealand through an online portal connected to its CRM. With XP, the national office can now update the parts of the registration that change most, and Baptist leaders can choose a registration period that suits them.

CLIENT STORY ⋅ 5 MIN READ

Client Profile

Baptist Churches of New Zealand (BCNZ), formally the Baptist Union of New Zealand, connects around 250 Baptist churches and faith communities throughout Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as a few overseas that include New Zealanders.

About 29,000 people attend a Baptist church service each Sunday. The national office supports local churches and their leaders, who serve their communities through Sunday services and programmes such as children’s and youth groups, groups for older people and op shops.

Challenge

Every year, around 250 pastors and leaders register with BCNZ through an online portal connected to its CRM, and the registration process changes every year. Instructions throughout the form were programmed in, so even a small wording change needed a developer, with the time and cost that comes with it.

Registration also opened only once a year, in November. Leaders starting a new role mid-year either waited or paid for a full year, and every application landed for review at the same time.

Solution

BCNZ worked with XP to put the most-changed parts of registration in its own hands, including:

A registration portal integrated with Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM
Editable instructions the national office can update without a developer
Role-based recommendations BCNZ controls itself
Two registration periods, November and May, managed in the CRM
Clear change management, delivered on time and within the agreed scope

Microsoft Dynamics

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At a glance

Around 250

Baptist leaders register every year, through a portal linked to the CRM.

Two periods

Registration opens in November and May, with Baptist leaders split roughly in half, so the review workload is spread across the year.

In-house edits

Routine text changes made in-house, without waiting on a developer or paying for their time.

The challenge: a registration process that changes every year

Each year, BCNZ’s pastors and ministry leaders complete their registration through the Baptist Registration portal, which BCNZ launched four to five years ago. It’s public-facing for Baptist leaders and feeds BCNZ’s CRM, and the Carey Centre for Lifelong Learning, which administers registration, has made changes to it every year since.

Many of those changes are small but constant. Instructions and explanations throughout the form sat in text boxes that had been programmed in, so even a wording change needed a developer, with the time and cost that comes with it. As Anna puts it, registration is a little bit of a moving beast.

The timing was fixed, too. Registration opened to everyone in November for a month, then closed. Baptist leaders who started a new role early in the year, such as new graduates, either waited the best part of a year to register or registered for half a year and paid the full amount. And every application landed on the review team at the same time.

The solution: put the most-changed parts in BCNZ’s hands

Over the last two years, XP has worked with BCNZ to update the registration forms and their integration with the CRM, building in self-service wherever things change most.

Editable instructions

This year, XP replaced the hard-coded instruction text throughout the form with editable sections. The national office can now update wording themselves, and if someone calls or emails five minutes after a change, they can fix it on the spot.

Recommendations BCNZ controls

When Baptist leaders reach the Baptist whānau section, the portal highlights the items BCNZ recommends for their role, based on their earlier answers. Since last year, BCNZ has controlled those recommendations itself, so they can change each year without a developer.

Two registration periods

XP built registration periods into the CRM, so each person is set as a November or May registrant, and the portal’s registration form only opens to them in their chosen period. BCNZ aims to split Baptist leaders roughly in half, about 125 in each.

Clear change management

When BCNZ asked for extra work mid-project, XP broke the estimate down request by request so BCNZ could choose what to go ahead with. Weekly catch-ups kept both teams aligned, and the project was delivered on time and within the agreed scope.

BCNZ doesn’t control the whole form and doesn’t need to. The parts that change most are now theirs, and XP looks after the technical programming.

“All the instructions throughout the form used to be programmed in, so any change came with time and cost. Now we can jump in and edit it ourselves, which makes things so much easier. The self-management has just been amazing. It’s more flexible, we can update it as we need, and it makes the experience so much better for both us and the people registering.”

Anna Schroeder

Business Process Manager, Baptist Churches of New Zealand

The results: control, flexibility and a partner that knows the work

No more waiting

No more waiting on a developer for routine changes. Text that once came with time and cost is now a quick in-house edit.

Registration that fits

People can register in the period that aligns with their annual review, their church’s calendar or the start of a new role, instead of waiting a year or paying for a year they won’t use.

A lighter review workload

Splitting registrations across two periods spreads the review work across the year.

Less re-explaining, faster fixes

With much the same XP team on the portal each year, now on its third iteration with the same developer, XP already understands what the portal is meant to do. When a change has a knock-on effect elsewhere, the team knows why and can resolve it quickly.

Learning along the way

Anna describes each project as a little bit of professional development: XP explains how things work as it sets them up, so she can take on what she knows how to do and leave XP the deep technical work.

The new registration periods open to Baptist leaders from 1 November 2026, so feedback from registrants will follow.

“Every time we do a project with XP, I’m learning. They set things up so I can take on what I know how to do, and leave them the really technical programming. It’s not just getting the end product I want. I’m actually learning and being empowered through the process as well.”