No one should come to church and leave without understanding the sermon.

The problem

The problem we could not ignore

I never planned to build church translation software. That being said I am a bit of a tinkerer and when a challenge arises I often back myself to build something.

Marrying into a Mexican family and slowly getting to grips with the language, I can tell you that it's frustrating when you barely catch the gist of a conversation.

Over the years I spent a lot of time sitting in church where I did not fully understand the language — both in Mexico and living in Spain. It's tough.

You can feel the room. You can sense the atmosphere. You can tell when everyone else has caught a moment. But you are always behind the words, nudging the person next to you to fill you in.

Then my wife's family came to visit us in England, and suddenly the problem moved in the other direction.

Every Sunday my wife was trying to worship, listen, and whisper-translate the sermon into someone's ear at the same time.

That was the moment it became obvious: churches had people they genuinely loved and welcomed, but still had no simple way to help them follow the message in real time without a live translator and physical equipment.

I tried the obvious options first: the usual translation apps, and some awkward workarounds. It worked a little — as long as the kids didn't make noise next to me.

So I built the thing I wanted to exist: open a link, choose your language, and follow along. No app. No long contracts or credits. No complex booth setup just to make people feel included.

Voco started because I wanted my own family to feel fully present. It kept growing because I realised this was not a niche problem. Multilingual churches everywhere were still piecing together tools that were too expensive, too clunky, or not built for church at all.