Notes from building Voco

Church translation, accessibility and multilingual ministry.

Practical guides from Josh Stannard, founder of Voco—written for pastors and church tech teams, including the trade-offs and lessons that product pages usually leave out.

The Voco guide library

Practical help that is already published.

Church translation setup, multilingual welcome and community ministry guides from the original Voco resource library.

How-to guide

01

How to translate your church service live — without hiring an interpreter

For most of church history, if you wanted to translate your service for non-English speakers, you had two options: hire a professional interpreter, or ask a bilingual volunteer to whisper in someone's ear. Both work. Neither scales. This guide shows you how live AI translation works, what it actually costs, and how to get it running before Sunday.

6 min read

Diaspora guide

02

Welcoming Nigerian families to your UK church — a practical guide

Nigeria sends more Christians to the UK than almost any other country. Nigerian-background believers are present in almost every major UK city — attending both dedicated Nigerian churches and mainstream evangelical, charismatic, and Catholic congregations. This guide is for churches that want to serve these members well, practically and not just in principle.

7 min read

Diaspora guide

03

Welcoming Congolese families to your UK church

Congolese-background Christians are part of many UK cities, often bringing deep faith, strong family networks, and rich worship traditions. This guide is for churches that want to welcome Congolese families well without reducing that welcome to a token greeting or a one-off translated slide.

7 min read

Diaspora guide

04

Welcoming Spanish-speaking families to your UK church

Over 800,000 Spanish speakers live in the UK — the largest and fastest-growing language group after English. They come from Spain, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and across Latin America, with very different cultural expectations and church backgrounds. This guide helps you understand who they are and how to serve them well.

6 min read

How-to guide

05

The real cost of church translation: professional interpreter vs AI

The question most church leaders ask before setting up live translation is simple: what will it cost? The honest answer depends on how you're currently doing it — or not doing it. This guide breaks down the numbers for professional interpreters and AI translation side by side, so you can make the right call for your congregation.

5 min read

Diaspora guide

07

Welcoming Eastern European families to your church — Polish, Romanian, and Ukrainian

Eastern Europeans represent one of the largest language communities in the UK church, but they're often overlooked in multilingual ministry conversations. Over 800,000 Polish, 400,000 Romanian, and an increasing number of Ukrainian speakers live in the UK — and most of them have church backgrounds that make them natural members of evangelical, Catholic, and Orthodox congregations.

6 min read

Ministry guide

08

Live church translation for special events — Christmas, Easter, and baptisms

Christmas, Easter, baptisms, and weddings regularly bring in the largest and most diverse congregations of the year. They're also the services most likely to include first-time visitors from non-English-speaking backgrounds — relatives, friends, and community members who may never otherwise attend. Getting translation right for these moments matters more than any regular Sunday.

5 min read

Diaspora guide

09

Welcoming Chinese-background families to your church — Mandarin, Cantonese, and beyond

Over 400,000 Chinese speakers live in the UK, with significant communities in London, Manchester, Birmingham, and most major cities. Chinese-background Christians represent a wide range of backgrounds — from long-established Cantonese-speaking communities to recent Mandarin-speaking students and professionals, and BNO arrivals from Hong Kong since 2021. Understanding who they are shapes how you serve them.

6 min read

Diaspora guide

10

Welcoming Hong Kong BNO families to your UK church

Since the British National (Overseas) visa scheme opened in January 2021, over 170,000 Hong Kong residents have arrived in the UK. A significant proportion are Christians — Hong Kong has one of the highest Christian populations in East Asia, with strong evangelical, Baptist, Anglican, and Pentecostal traditions. These arrivals represent one of the most significant waves of Christian migration to the UK in decades.

6 min read

Ministry guide

11

Welcoming refugees at your church — why translation is only the beginning

Refugees who arrive at a church often arrive with very little — and what the church offers in those first weeks can shape their experience of faith for years. Translation is one practical tool in that welcome, but it exists in a much larger context of trust, trauma, and genuine community. This guide covers both.

7 min read