Not every church preaches in English
Walk into churches across North America on a Sunday and you’ll hear sermons in Spanish, French, Portuguese, Korean, Mandarin, Haitian Creole, Tagalog, Arabic, and many more languages. Some congregations preach entirely in one language. Others switch between two in the same service.
These churches have the same opportunity as every other church: powerful messages buried in livestreams that could reach far more people as short clips. (See your best sermon moments are buried.) But many clip tools quietly assume the sermon is in English.
What a church in Montreal found
David Roche serves at a Church of God congregation in Montreal, Quebec, where services are in French. He tested Reels (formerly Worship Clips) on one of the church’s French livestreams:
“I want to say the AI did a pretty decent job capturing the moments from our live stream in different language (French). I’m excited to keep testing it out, but I already found a moment I really enjoyed.”
David Roche · Church of God · Montreal, QC
That’s the experience every church deserves: point the tool at your service, in your language, and find moments worth sharing.
How Reels handles other languages
Reels uses AssemblyAI, a leading speech recognition provider, to transcribe your service. That means:
- Dozens of languages. Reels works in the languages AssemblyAI supports, including Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, Japanese, and Vietnamese.
- Automatic language detection. You don’t have to tell it which language your pastor preached in.
- Captions in the language spoken. A French sermon gets French captions. A Spanish sermon gets Spanish captions.
- Moments in context. The AI suggests moments from what was actually said, in the language it was said.
Everything else works the same: connect your YouTube livestream or upload a recording, review the suggested moments, trim the ones you like, and get captioned, branded clips in vertical, square, and horizontal formats. (See how to turn your livestream into Shorts.)
Why language matters for reach
People share what speaks their language. A clip in someone’s first language feels personal in a way a translation rarely does. That’s especially true for immigrant and diaspora communities, where a church is often a center of community life.
Your audience is wider than your building. A French sermon from Montreal can reach French speakers in Quebec, France, Haiti, and across Africa. A Spanish sermon can reach most of the Americas. Social media makes that reach free. (See social media is the printing press of our time.)
Young people often move between languages. Second-generation members may prefer clips in one language while their parents prefer another. Clips can serve both. (See sharing sermon clips in a bilingual church.)
Tips for clips in any language
- Check the captions before posting. Names, Bible books, and local expressions can trip up any transcription, in any language. (See captions for sermon clips.)
- Write titles and post captions in the clip’s language. Mixing languages in a single post confuses readers and platforms.
- Use the right Bible book names. “Juan 3:16,” “Jean 3:16,” and “John 3:16” are the same verse, but your audience expects their own.
- Pick moments that travel. The same rules apply in every language: start strong and keep one complete thought. (See sermon clip hooks.)
- Mind the music. Worship songs in any language still need the right license. (See can churches post worship song clips?.)
Getting started
Reels is free and unlimited in Tech Manager, the WorshipMetrics app on your church’s streaming computer, and cloud Reels on Pro and Max lets volunteers work from anywhere. See pricing.
Try it the way David did: take last Sunday’s livestream, in whatever language your church preaches, and see which moments it finds.
Related questions
- Does WorshipMetrics Reels work for sermons that aren't in English?
- Yes. Reels transcribes services in the dozens of languages AssemblyAI supports, including Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Italian, Mandarin, Hindi, Arabic, and Vietnamese, and detects the language automatically. Captions come out in the language that was preached.
- Can AI find good sermon moments in French or Spanish?
- Yes. Churches preaching in other languages are already using it. David Roche of the Church of God in Montreal tested Reels on a French livestream and said the AI did a pretty decent job capturing the moments, and that he'd already found a moment he really enjoyed.
- What if our church preaches in two languages?
- Clip each language's moments in that language, keep captions in the language spoken, and decide whether to run one account or one per language. Automatic language detection helps when services switch between languages.
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