Sponsor AI Live Translation
So that a visitor who does not speak the language can follow the whole service — on their own phone, from the first Sunday.
The problem
A visitor walks into a church where the service is in a language they do not speak. They stay for the music, understand almost none of the sermon, and do not come back. Nobody was unwelcoming. The barrier was simply thirty-five minutes of speech they could not follow.
The traditional fixes do not scale down to an ordinary congregation. Human interpreters require a trained volunteer for every language, every week. Headset systems require hardware, a booth and someone to run it. Both are out of reach for a church of a hundred people — which is precisely the size of church most likely to sit in a multilingual neighbourhood.
How it works
- The church streams. An administrator starts a broadcast and the preacher speaks into the microphone they already use.
- The AI translates. Speech is transcribed, translated and spoken back in the target language in near real time, with custom vocabulary so that names and terms specific to that church come through correctly.
- The visitor listens. They scan a QR code and hear the sermon in their own language on their own phone. No headset to hand out, no equipment to buy, no volunteer to schedule.
Setup takes minutes rather than a capital project, and the platform supports 24+ languages.
See it explained
W2G Live — real-time translation for church services
Published by our program partner W2G at live.w2g.church.
An overview of the live translation platform this project sponsors: how a church starts a broadcast, how the AI transcribes and translates the sermon as it is preached, and how a visitor joins by scanning a QR code to hear the service in their own language on their phone.
What pastors using it say
These are named pastors and ministry members at churches currently using the platform, most of them in the United States. Snowball Fund did not collect these testimonies — they were published by our program partner W2G, and we reproduce them with attribution rather than writing our own. They describe the tool we sponsor, not gifts we have made.
“We had an American member who struggled to follow our services for a long time. Now, every time I see him at church, he smiles at me — and he is even bringing other Americans with him.”
Original (Portuguese): “Tínhamos um membro americano que lutava para acompanhar nossos cultos há muito tempo. Agora, toda vez que o vejo no culto, ele sorri para mim — e está até trazendo outros americanos.”
Pr. Israel Santos
Reobote Church — Fort Myers, FL
“We live on a small island in the smallest state in America, but now our church is reaching beyond its own walls and impacting people who speak different languages.”
Original (Portuguese): “Vivemos em uma pequena ilha no menor estado da América, mas agora nossa igreja está alcançando além de suas paredes e impactando pessoas de diferentes idiomas.”
Pr. Leo Huguenin
Gethsemane Church — Middletown, RI
“I believe this is phenomenal. Many Americans would go to a Brazilian church.”
Original (Portuguese): “Eu acredito que isso é fenomenal! Muitos americanos iriam a uma igreja brasileira.”
Rev. Dan Buentello
Pastor for 40 years — Massachusetts
“I had the privilege of taking part in a women's event and it was a complete success. I understood the entire sermon — preached in Portuguese — in Spanish.”
Original (Portuguese): “Tive o privilégio de participar de um evento de mulheres e tudo foi um êxito. Entendi toda a pregação do português em espanhol.”
Dora
North Naples Baptist Church — Naples, FL
“Very good — the language comes back very fast. The setup took a minute, if that.”
Original (Portuguese): “Muito bom, muito rápido a devolutiva da língua. O setup demorou só um minuto e olhe lá.”
Heros
Translation Ministry, Harvest Field Church — FL
Source: live.w2g.church. Translated from Portuguese; original wording shown with each quote.
What your donation funds
$189 / month
11 hours of live translation for one church
Enough for a weekly service plus a midweek meeting, every week of the month, translated into the languages that congregation actually needs.
These figures describe how a gift is allocated — what it buys and for whom. They are not a report of results already achieved.
As with our digital school project, the platform is operated by W2G Education LLC, a for-profit company. Snowball Fund purchases the sponsorship and gives it to a beneficiary church at no cost — we explain that relationship in full on our about page.
Sponsor a church
Supporting more than one project? Every project's calculator is together on the donation page, so you can combine them into a single gift.
Questions about this project
Is 11 hours a month actually enough?
For most congregations, yes — a Sunday service and a midweek meeting fit comfortably. Churches that need more can add hours, and a sponsor can cover more than one church.
How good is machine translation for preaching?
Good enough that pastors keep using it, which is the test that matters. It is not a replacement for a skilled human interpreter, and we will not claim it is. It is available every single week to churches that were never going to have a human interpreter at all.
Does the church need special equipment?
No. The existing microphone and the listeners' own phones.
Which languages are supported?
More than 24, with the church choosing the ones its community needs.