English-speaking churches in Sweden
Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and Uppsala all have English-speaking congregations: an Anglican chaplaincy, international free churches, student congregations near the universities. They serve people who came to work for Swedish companies, to do research, or for love. Over time they gain Swedish members: a husband or wife, a colleague, a neighbour who came to a Christmas service and stayed.
Swedes speak English well, so the need is easy to overlook. But a sermon on suffering or forgiveness lands differently in the language you grew up with, and older in-laws or teenagers at Swedish schools may find a long English sermon tiring. Offering Swedish tells them that the church belongs to Sweden as well as to the international community.
Swedes in Britain and Ireland
Many young Swedes study or work in London, Edinburgh or Dublin for a few years. The Church of Sweden has congregations abroad, including in London, for those who want worship in Swedish. Others join a local church through friends or a partner. Offering Swedish now and then, for example when their parents visit at Christmas or for a baptism, is a small kindness that families remember.
Nordic groups and partner churches
Youth exchanges, choirs and church partnerships between Britain and Scandinavia often bring Swedes, Norwegians and Danes together. Each has their own language in ChurchTranslate, so a Swedish choir member can listen in Swedish while a Danish group leader picks Danish and a Norwegian chooses Norwegian. Because a language only uses credits while someone is listening, switching on all three for a joint weekend costs only the minutes they are actually used. The page on conferences and events has tips for weekends like that.
How listeners use it
- 01Scan
Visitors scan the QR code or open the church's link. It works in the browser on any smartphone, and there is also an iOS app.
- 02Choose Svenska
They pick Swedish from the languages your church has switched on.
- 03Listen or read
The Swedish voice follows the preacher a few seconds behind. Many Swedes prefer to read the captions with the audio off, hearing the preacher in the room.
What to expect
The translation is into standard Swedish, and it follows a sermon well. Swedish church language has its own settled terms, from the Church of Sweden to the free churches, and an automatic translation will not always pick the word a Swedish pastor would. Bible names are the hardest part; ChurchTranslate keeps a terminology list per language to correct known terms in the captions. See Bible names and terms.
Cost
A one-hour service into Swedish uses 60 credits, whatever the number of listeners. For a church that only needs Swedish a few times a year, a credit pack of 300 credits for €50 that never expires is often the simplest option. See the pricing.