Who needs English in a non-English church?
Walk into a Sunday service in Amsterdam, Bergen, Leuven or Munich and you will often find people who do not speak the local language yet: international students, researchers on a two-year contract, nurses and engineers recruited from abroad, spouses of people who moved for work. Many of them grew up in church and are looking for one. Most of them share one language: English.
Some cities have an English-speaking international church, but not every town does, and not everyone wants a separate congregation. A student who joins the local parish or free church meets neighbours, finds a home group and stays. A live sermon translation into English makes that step much easier, because they can follow what is being preached from week one.
It also helps the other way round. Members from Ghana, Nigeria, India or the Philippines, who have long attended a Dutch or Norwegian church, may follow the language well enough in daily life but still find a theological sermon heavy going. Reading English captions alongside lets them keep up without feeling singled out.
How it works in the service
- 01Show the QR code
Put the code on the screen before the service, in the bulletin or on a card at the welcome desk. Visitors scan it with their phone camera.
- 02Choose English
The listening page opens in the browser. No account and no download are needed. iPhone users can also use the ChurchTranslate app.
- 03Listen or read along
With earbuds they hear the sermon in English a few seconds behind the preacher, and live captions run on screen. They can show the original text alongside, which helps people who are learning the local language.
A help for language learners
Many internationals are taking Dutch, Norwegian or German lessons. Showing the original sentence next to the English translation turns the sermon into a quiet language lesson: you hear the preacher in the room, you read what was said, and you see how it translates. After the service, listeners can ask for the transcript by e-mail in English, which is useful for anyone who wants to look up a word or reread a point.
What the church needs
Your sound technician broadcasts from a laptop or phone in the browser, ideally with a feed from the mixing desk (see audio setup). In the church settings you choose the speaker's language, for example Dutch or Norwegian, and the languages visitors may pick. When a guest preaches in English, the technician switches the speaker language to English with one tap, so the other languages your church offers keep working.
Cost
One credit is one minute of translation into one language, and only while someone listens. A weekly 75-minute service into English uses about 300 credits a month, which fits within the Lite plan of €65 per month with 480 credits. See the pricing or read how churches handle an international congregation.