How Menlo Church Brings Hope to Non-English Speakers with Real-Time AI Translation

Menlo Church
8
languages supported simultaneously during service
5
second delay from pastor to translation on phone
3
services on Sundays with translations available
Menlo Church is one of Silicon Valley's most prominent and respected churches, drawing thousands each week across its campuses in Menlo Park, San Mateo, Mountain View, and Saratoga.
Known for its strong teaching, vibrant worship, and community outreach, the San Mateo campus has become the spiritual home for many in the heart of Silicon Valley. Serving in a region shaped by global cultures and innovation, Menlo Church San Mateo is uniquely positioned to reach people from many walks of life.
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Challenge

Menlo Church, founded in 1873, has a long history rooted in the evolving communities of the San Francisco Bay Area. Its expansion to multiple campuses reflects its growth alongside one of America’s most linguistically and culturally diverse regions. The San Francisco Bay Area is home to over 160 languages, with nearly 10% of households linguistically isolated (speaking English poorly or not at all), largely using Asian and Spanish languages.

Menlo's mission is to bring hope and healing to the San Francisco Bay Area. But they have never been able to reach this 10% of linguistically isolated households in their neighborhoods.

"We surveyed our community and turns out our community wanted to invite their Mandarin and Spanish speaking friends and family to church. These were underserved communities right in our own backyard"
— Troy Goode, Campus Pastor, Menlo San Mateo

Solution

Menlo Church partnered with Pastors.ai to implement a real-time AI translation system that allows non-English speakers to listen to or read translated captions. The solution began with a pilot program in March 2025, followed by an official launch in August.

Congregants simply go to menlo.church/translate from their phones, select their preferred language, and plug in earbuds to receive real-time audio translation with just 5 seconds of delay. Users can also choose to mute audio and just read text translations on their screens.

My parents do not know English at all and have never been to church before. With the translation software, they are able to join me in the church community, listen to the sermon together and feel the power of worship. Despite a short visit, these became great starting points towards faith conversations with them.
— CP, Menlo Church congregant

The implementation involved a simple stream using vMIX from the local sound board to the Pastors.ai server, which then translates the audio stream and broadcasts it out to menlo.church/translate

Real-Time translation in multiple languages
Churchgoers get real-time translation directly on their phones, no app download needed

Results & Impact

Menlo Church in San Mateo has eliminated the barriers that previously excluded non-English speakers from full worship participation. The languages quickly expanded from just Mandarin and Spanish to a total of 8 languages

  • Making disciples of all nations
    The large Asian American community at Menlo feels especially empowered to bring their visiting parents and relatives to church, sparking faith related discussions to people who have never had the Gospel shared with them
  • Loving their immigrant neighbor
    The San Francisco Bay Area is home to many who are linguistically-isolated. Now Menlo Church congregants can invite their neighbors to church without having to translate for them
  • Superior Translation Quality
    AI translations fine-tuned for Christian content deliver higher accuracy than volunteer translators, especially during fast-paced sermons, with both automated evaluation and manual user feedback confirming exceptional quality.

With campuses across Silicon Valley, Menlo is uniquely positioned to pilot and scale new tech that furthers its mission - bringing hope to more people, in more languages, every week.

Break Down Language Barriers at your Church

Get a demo of real-time translations