Liquid Church came out of the pandemic with an initial heavy emphasis on a return to physical attendance. Its staff shifted strategy quickly when it decided to double down on its digital experience and give its attendees a fully integrated, hybrid church experience.

Apollos was able to help with that transition and continues to be an integral part of Liquid Church’s innovative digital church experience.

The Client: Meet Liquid Church

Liquid Church is a non-denominational multisite church with six physical campuses across the state of New Jersey. Its mission is to saturate the local region with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and reach the nine million people living in the Garden State.

Along with its boots-on-the-ground focus, Liquid Church has a robust digital church presence. This helps them reach new people online and disciple their existing congregation 24/7 in the digital space. This is part of a digital strategy designed to help individuals get to know God, experience personal growth, and find caring community.

The Challenge: Taking Church Digital and Beyond Sunday

Coming out of the pandemic, Liquid Church’s leadership initially wanted to put digital church “back in the drawer.” It launched a return to physical church campaign that it called a “homecoming.” The emphasis was clear: digital church was a secondary option.

Before long, the group realized that they didn’t want to leave the online element of their church behind. Contrary to what many believed, physical and digital church were not mutually exclusive. They didn’t cannibalize one another. 

On the contrary, both avenues could experience simultaneous growth. Both played an important role, the former in maintaining the impact and community found in traditional services, and the latter in making church accessible beyond the typical 90 minutes reserved for services on a Sunday morning. 

In response to this revelation, the team decided to integrate digital into their ongoing plans.

In 2021, a team led by Lauren Bercarich began exploring their options. Lauren pitched doubling down on the digital church experience. The leadership team agreed. They created a new department, made Lauren the new Digital Director, and provided a budget.

At this point, digital church was still in its infancy, and the team decided they needed outside support. They had heard of Apollos before at conferences. The consulting group, Ministry Solutions Group, also suggested our services. Liquid Church reached out, and the rest was history.

The Apollos Answer: Empowering Vision Through Technology

When Apollos came onto the scene, Liquid Church already had an app — but it was nothing more than a static billboard. It lacked interactive elements where people could come together, grow in faith, and build community. 

In response, we helped them overhaul their entire online experience. The customizable part of their platform was a game-changer for the LC team. They were able to create their own unique, white-labeled home pages, content, and tabs. 

The LC team also appreciated the hands-on, detailed Apollos approach. Lauren felt Apollos functioned more as a partner than as a software developer. We were providing a critical, church-centric service, not just handing off an app and calling it a day. 

We were careful to be responsive, provide insights whenever possible, and walk with the Liquid Church staff throughout the process. We also didn’t disappear after launch. Years after the fact, we are still their primary point of contact for church tech strategy,  innovation, and support.

Results: Integrated Digital and In-Person Church

By working with our team, Liquid Church has managed to adopt an integrative approach that brings digital and in-person church together whenever possible.

Years into using our software, the platform enhances everything the church does as an organization. One example is the church’s prayer challenge paired with its teaching series “Moving Mountains.” The goal was 100,000 prayers prayed over six weeks, and the congregation exceeded expectations with 146,000 prayers prayed in the Apollos App during that time. This challenge was about teaching the congregation how to pray and then prompting them to put that into action! 

The LC team has also been able to create special devotional content for the app. During Lent, thousands of congregants opened the app to listen to their pastors read through the Gospels. 

LC continues to create custom app carousels devoted to complementing specific in-person events. “Micro moments” during Sunday Services help the congregation understand that the app is a part of the church culture. This includes showing B-roll from the app when it’s mentioned in connection with a sermon or announcement. A “what’s trending” section with prompts for a variety of next steps is updated weekly and mentioned in every service. 

Lauren and her team have even worked with our group to create their own innovative elements for the LC digital experience. One of these is called “My Liquid,” a one-stop experience that centralizes all of the church’s practical components, including:

• Giving statements

• Serving schedules

• Small group rosters

• Upcoming events

• Translation for live services

The deep integration of the Apollos platform has gone beyond creating a digital component for Liquid Church. It has created an organizational shift. 

Outside of the actual technology, Lauren and the LC team also continue to benefit from the Apollos community. This is made up of a group of churches using the platform that meet in round tables hosted by our team every month. Here, they can learn how everyone is using the app in different ways.

Continued innovation is another factor Lauren cited as a lasting benefit. Liquid Church was an early adopter of the Apollos experience, and as such, it has benefited from years of innovation. Rather than deliver generic updates, we provide fresh, new features and continue to steer into the ongoing digital revolution within the church.

“Apollos is always innovating. They’re always researching what is culturally current, and they’re applying it to their app. They’re always advancing and enhancing new features — and we get to benefit from that.” - Lauren Bercarich, Digital Director at Liquid Church

Looking to the future, Liquid Church is excited to work with Apollos on multiple projects. This includes potentially adding gamification elements, like badges and streaks, to the app. There are other concepts in motion, as well.

The critical factor is that our team will be with them, walking side by side as they navigate what church looks like in the digital-first future that is unfolding more every year.