Through broadcasting church services online, churches like yours can reach people around the world. The stability and ease of Resi’s “set it and forget it” technology allows churches like yours to have a global reach, connecting people worldwide with the Gospel. In addition to Resi technology, recent advances in artificial intelligence have made language translation happen almost in real-time. As a result, churches like yours have the potential to impact a global audience,
Let’s acknowledge that being a global church is more than broadcasting services in different languages. What does your discipleship process look like for your international audience? Are you (potentially) broadcasting church services in their heart language? What does discipleship in their heart language look like? Wrestle with these questions and develop a global plan before you start broadcasting church services in different languages. That being said, some phenomenal opportunities exist with some of this technology.
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Broadcasting live translation of church services
Recently, Resi was part of the Lausanne Congress in Seoul, South Korea. A missions organization founded years ago by Billy Graham, Lausanne is about collaboration for the kingdom, working to connect people worldwide. The Congress in Seoul, which meets “once a generation” (every 14 years), attended by over 6,000 people from over 200 countries. In addition to the physical Congress, Resi broadcasts the services online globally, with an exciting wrinkle: Resi simultaneously broadcasts the keynotes and other content in multiple languages. In addition to English, the live content was translated into Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian, Korean, and Mandarin Chinese. One Resi encoder managed the broadcast from Korea in seven languages, and the Lausanne Congress was seen by an additional 21,000 viewers across 160 countries globally. Talk about reach!
Resi encoders can broadcast up to 16 channels of separate audio, up to 16 languages in mono or eight languages in stereo. Lausanne had humans translating the sessions in real-time, so there were many microphones and human interactions before the audio hit the encoders. But artificial intelligence is stepping in and potentially simplifying this process.
Artificial intelligence providing flawless multi-language video translation
Our friends at SermonShots hit the news recently by winning an AI Hackathon. SermonShots takes your church service and translates the text into different languages in real-time. Attendees can pull out their smartphones and read the service in their heart language in real-time. There is virtually no lag in this technology. This can significantly improve the life experience for people not as comfortable with the primary language spoken at the church. However, this technology is designed for the live experience, not the broadcast.
For online broadcasts, SermonShots also uses AI to translate the audio. Your pastor’s sermon? Well, now AI can translate that sermon audio into multiple languages and make it sound (and look) like your pastor is speaking in a different language. Your pastor’s voice, with the correct accents and tonal reflections… even their lips on the video, will move in the proper shape. It looks like your pastor is speaking in a different language.
This is just the beginning of AI video, of course. AI avatars are now all the rage where AI can record a video of a virtual avatar (that looks quite real) reading your script in any language. Your sermon, your discipleship process, your announcements… any text can now be recorded into any language in virtually flawless video. HeyGen is just one example of many in this space.
Aligning vision & passion: Just because we can doesn’t mean we should
The ethical dilemma is real and will not be solved in a blog article. But let’s assume your church has put some thought into this use of artificial intelligence, is comfortable with creating multilingual avatars to share the gospel digitally, and has a follow-up discipleship process to disciple people globally using digital tools and platforms. Great!
I worked with a church that had a passion for reaching people globally. The church was positioned in a multinational, multicultural city and had different cultural representations from top to bottom. The church was even very comfortable with the idea of digital ministry. Broadcasting church services was not a problem, and they were comfortable offering digital discipleship via online small groups. It was common for musical worship to be sung in different languages each week. If any church was in a prime position to broadcast multilingual church services online and make a global impact digitally, this church was.
As we started broadcasting multilingual services globally, we saw an impact. Global small groups formed online. Watch parties and microchurches were forming in America and internationally. The church’s passion, reaching people for Christ, was being fulfilled. But, in a painful moment, we realized that the church’s vision was being challenged.
The vision of the church and its leadership was to reach the city for Christ. And, the staff and attendees were excited about this calling. But the passion for reaching and discipling people digitally, even in different languages, flew countercultural to reaching the city. The teaching pastor would often share analogies from the stage about the city and cast vision about reaching the city… which did not connect with people who lived in different cities or countries. Another of the teaching pastors preached from the stage that it was a sin if we were not in the house of God worshiping on Sunday, and two house church leaders resigned the next day because they did not want to be sinning against God.
Ultimately, many of the digital initiatives were shelved. Not because they were bad ideas or because they weren’t working… they were stopped because they didn’t align with the church’s vision. Just because we can do these things with technology doesn’t mean we should. If I had to do it over again, I would more tightly get the leadership to define its vision and then build the digital strategy around that vision. Live and learn.
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Questions your church should be asking before going global
Is your church curious about this road and wanting to test the waters? Believe it or not, this technology aspect is easier than some of the other parts! Many churches say they want to reach the world for Christ. Digitally, we can. Make sure leadership understands what supporting that vision will look like. Help your church leadership start to wrestle with these questions:
- What happens when someone on a different continent accepts Christ? Who disciples them? What role does your church play?
- Can someone from a different country use your church online for six weeks? Six months? Six years? Where is the limit?
- How does your global digital strategy play out in Corinthians 3:1-3 (spiritual milk vs. solid food)?
Going global is very possible. In fact, with today’s technology, it’s easier than ever, which is why we must address these questions. The Gospel should not be blasted like a shotgun globally, haphazardly hitting here or there. Instead, we should be intentional about where we plant and water the seeds, ensuring the fruit has every chance to grow and mature.
