What is processed during a translated service
When you broadcast a service, the sound from your microphone or mixing desk travels from the broadcast laptop or phone to ChurchTranslate's own LiveKit server. From there it is sent to Google's Gemini API, on the paid tier, which recognises the speech, translates it and generates the translated voice. The result goes back to the listeners' phones as audio and captions.
In practice this means the voices of whoever speaks into the microphone are processed: the preacher, the readers, someone giving a testimony or praying aloud. Listeners themselves are not recorded; they only receive.
What is stored, and what is not
| Data | Stored? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Audio of the service | No | No audio recordings are stored by ChurchTranslate. |
| Text transcript of the service | Yes, in the church's archive | Kept in the church's own service history and managed by the church, which can correct transcripts. |
| Requests to the Gemini API | Briefly, by Google | On the paid API, requests are not used to train Google's models. Google may keep them for a limited time for abuse monitoring. |
| Listener's e-mail address for the transcript | Temporarily | Only if the listener asks for the transcript by e-mail; the address is deleted after 30 days. |
| Listener accounts | None needed | Listeners scan the QR code and listen without an account. |
Processing is global. Google's infrastructure is not guaranteed to process the data only within the EU or the UK. If that matters for your church, take it into account in your assessment.
Roles under GDPR
Under both the EU GDPR and the UK GDPR, the church decides to broadcast its services and what to do with the transcripts. ChurchTranslate processes data on the church's behalf, using Google as a sub-processor for speech recognition, translation and voice. The details, including the legal entity (BUQE B.V., Hilversum, the Netherlands), are in the privacy statement.
Most churches already handle personal data carefully for their membership lists, safeguarding and livestreams. Translation fits within that existing practice: be transparent, collect only what you need and decide who in the church has access.
What to tell your congregation
People do not need a lecture on data protection, but they do deserve to know. A short, plain notice is enough. For example:
Put a version of this on your website, in the notice sheet when you start, or on the slide with the QR code. If your church also livestreams, many people will already be used to a similar notice.
Sensitive moments in the service
Church services sometimes include personal information: prayer requests that mention someone's illness, a testimony about a hard period, names of people in need. Think about how you handle these:
- Use the pause button during moments that should stay in the room, such as open prayer where members share personal requests.
- Ask before translating testimonies. Someone sharing their story should know it will be translated and appear in the transcript.
- Edit the transcript afterwards if something personal was said that does not need to be kept. The church manages its own archive.
- Avoid full names of people who are ill or vulnerable in the notices where a first name or "one of our members" will do. This is good practice with or without translation.
Children's work and safeguarding
If you translate an all-age service, the same principles apply. Avoid naming children in the translated parts, and remember that the transcript is kept. Separate children's groups are usually not broadcast at all.
A short checklist for your data protection lead
- Record the decision. Note in your minutes or data protection records that services are translated live, why, and which provider is used.
- Update your privacy notice. Add a sentence about live translation and the transcripts, and link to the ChurchTranslate privacy statement.
- Decide on access. Choose which team members are invited to the church account and can see the service history and transcripts.
- Set a retention habit. Decide how long you want to keep transcripts in your archive, and who tidies them up.
- Brief speakers. Make sure guest speakers, readers and anyone giving a testimony know the service is translated.
None of this is complicated, and most of it takes one meeting. Doing it at the start saves awkward questions later, especially if a member asks what happens to what they say at the front.
Questions churches ask
Councils and data protection leads often ask the same handful of questions, which we answer below. If you need more detail for your own records, read the privacy statement or contact us. For a broader introduction to the product, see how to translate a church service.