How to Add Live Captions to Your Church Service and Livestream

Who live captions help, and where they go

Most churches that add live captions want them in one of two places, and often both: on the sanctuary projector or a TV where the whole congregation reads along, and over the livestream, where people watching from home, a hospital bed or another country see captions on the video. Sermon Translate handles both from the same Subtitles screen on the same computer.

Captions are not only for people who speak another language. Members who are deaf or hard of hearing can follow the sermon in text too. Sermon Translate shows a live transcript of the words in the language the preacher speaks, and saves transcripts on the Standard plan so members can read the sermon again later. With QR Code Join in Live mode, listeners can also choose to read the original words on their own phone. Ask these members what works best for them before you decide where the captions go.

This article covers where to put captions and how to make them readable. For the full equipment setup from the first microphone to the first Sunday, follow our step by step guide.

What can the Subtitles screen show?

The Subtitles screen is a large-text caption view built for a room or a video overlay. You choose the language the preacher speaks and then up to 5 caption languages, each on its own line.

Sermon Translate reads 11 languages in total. Chinese captions are written in Traditional characters, and Farsi captions use a right-to-left layout. If your church needs several languages at once, Multiple mode explains how one sermon becomes up to 5 languages side by side.

How do you put captions on the sanctuary projector or TV?

1. Connect the translating computer to the projector or TV as a second screen.
2. Open the Subtitles screen, pick the preacher's language and the caption languages.
3. Use Float or Pop out to open the captions in their own window.
4. Drag that window onto the congregation-facing screen and size it.
5. Style the text for the back row, then watch a few test sentences before people arrive.

Nobody in the room needs an account to read a shared screen. That is the simplest way to serve a whole congregation. Members who want captions on their own phone need their own account, unless your church adds the QR Code Join add-on ($10 a month on a paid plan), which lets anyone scan a code and read without signing in.

How do you add church livestream captions in OBS or Streamlabs?

On the Subtitles screen, press Copy OBS URL. That link draws the captions on a transparent background, so only the text appears over your video. In general terms, the steps are the same in OBS and Streamlabs:

1. In your streaming software, add a new Browser Source to the scene you stream during the sermon.
2. Paste the URL you copied from the Subtitles screen.
3. Size and position the source, usually across the lower part of the frame.
4. Place the caption source above your camera or video layer so the text sits on top.
5. Do a test recording and check the captions are readable on a phone screen, not just on your monitor.

Keep the Sermon Translate page open and online on the computer that produces the captions for the whole service. If that page closes, the captions stop in the stream too.

Getting clean audio from the sound desk

Captions are only as good as the sound the computer hears. The best source is a feed from your sound desk into the translating computer, usually through an audio interface or a USB adapter. For the Subtitles screen, set that input as the computer's default microphone.

• Send the pulpit microphone to the feed, not the full band mix, if your desk allows it.
• Without a sound desk, place the device or a USB microphone close to the preacher and away from loudspeakers.
• Say a few test sentences before the service and watch the transcript for mistakes.
• Add names of speakers, ministries and places to the church glossary (custom vocabulary is part of the Standard plan) so they are spelled the same way every week.

Readability tips for the back row and for video

• Use a large, plain font with a bold weight. Thin fonts disappear on a projector.
• Give the text a solid or dark background in the room, where slides and lighting change.
• Show fewer languages on a small TV. Five lines are easier to read on a large screen than on a small one.
• On video, keep captions out of the preacher's face and away from lower-third graphics.
• Check the stream on a phone. Some viewers will watch there, and small text becomes unreadable.
• Sit in the back row during a test and read for a full minute before you decide the size is right.

Honest limits before you rely on it

• It needs an internet connection on the translating computer. It does not work offline.
• Speed: in our recorded demo, words reached the caption in about 1.5 seconds, and translations typically followed 3 to 4 seconds after each sentence. Viewers will notice this small delay.
• Sung lyrics are harder to recognize than speech, so expect fewer captions during worship songs. Show lyrics on slides instead.
• Accuracy depends on audio quality, how clearly the speaker talks, and unusual vocabulary.
• Captions are text only. There is no spoken audio translation.

Next step

Use the free 15-minute trial on the computer you stream from. Connect the sound desk feed, open the Subtitles screen, float captions onto the projector, add the OBS URL as a Browser Source, and record a short test. When it looks right, choose a plan on the pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

How do I add live captions to my church livestream in OBS?

Open the Subtitles screen in Sermon Translate, press Copy OBS URL, and add it as a Browser Source in OBS or Streamlabs. It shows the captions on a transparent background, so place the source above your video layer.

Can church captions show more than one language at once?

Yes. The Subtitles screen shows up to 5 caption languages at the same time, each on its own line, on the projector or in the livestream.

Does everyone in the church need an account to read the captions?

No. Anyone can read a shared projector, TV or livestream. Each person who runs Sermon Translate on their own phone needs their own account, unless the church adds QR Code Join for $10 a month on a paid plan.

How long is the delay between the sermon and the captions?

In our recorded demo, words reached the caption in about 1.5 seconds, and translations typically followed 3 to 4 seconds after each sentence. Your livestream software can add its own delay.

Do live captions work during worship songs?

Less well. Sung lyrics are harder to recognize than speech, so expect fewer captions during songs and show the lyrics on your slides.

Try Sermon Translate at your next service

Start with a free 15-minute trial, no credit card needed. Plans start at $19.99 a month.