Transcribe · Live today
Before a word can be carried into another language, it has to be heard clearly. Transcribe turns the spoken service into accurate, readable text as it happens.
What it is
Lingual listens to the same microphone or sound-board feed your congregation hears and turns the spoken words into live captions. With Planning Center Services connected, prepared readings, songs, and liturgy are available separately through the bulletin. Without Planning Center, guests follow the live captions; no connection is required to transcribe the spoken service.
Attendees who follow better by reading — including deaf and hard-of-hearing guests, people in a noisy room, and anyone reading along in the spoken language — follow on their own phone. No headset to request, no receiver to return, no app to install.
Why it matters
A service people cannot follow is a service they cannot join. Live text gives people another way to follow the spoken prayers and sermon. With a connected service plan, the bulletin also provides prepared songs and responses, so guests can participate with the people beside them.
The foundation
Translation carries the spoken message into each attendee's language as the service unfolds. Captions can end partway through a sentence; timing depends on the speech, audio feed, and connection. After the service, your church can return to the stored transcript to review what was said and prepare for the week.
A closer look
The same words the room hears, written down live. Here is what each part of the page is doing.
The page is listening with the room. If the connection drops, it says “Disconnected — retrying…” and picks up again on its own.
Adding names to the pronunciation dictionary helps Lingual spell them right, like “Deacon Minh Tran” here. With Planning Center connected, Lingual also picks up names from the plan’s readings, songs, and sermon notes.
When a passage is named, its words come from a published Bible edition, named on the card with its copyright notice. Your church can choose the edition for each language. The words are not taken from the microphone.
Earlier lines stay on the page, so anyone who looks away can scroll back through the recent part of the service.
Words still being spoken appear lighter, then settle into place as each phrase is confirmed.
Four kinds of text
Live
And Luke tells us something remarkable.
God did not ask them to leave their language at the door. He met them in
Text from the speech being heard now. They help people follow what the speaker is saying. Captions can end partway through a sentence, and their timing varies with speech, audio quality, and the connection.
Amazing Grace
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Words: John Newton, 1779 · public domain
Content from your connected Planning Center Services plan. Without that connection, guests follow the live captions page. Songs, responses, and readings belong to the order of worship; they are distinct from the live transcription of someone speaking. A stored transcript is not a promise of a complete verbatim record of every part of worship.
Pronunciation dictionary
Thank you, Deacon Minh Tran, for reading from Acts chapter two.
Supported information that helps speech recognition handle the service’s vocabulary. Your church’s custom terms and information from a connected service plan can help with names and references. Planning Center Services is optional.
Scripture passage · Acts 2:6 (NIV)
When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken.
The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.
Bible text from a named human translation, displayed distinctly from live captions. The transcript records speech; it does not become the authority for the Bible passage.
How it works
Choose the supported language being spoken and connect a clean service-audio feed.
Check the names, terms, and supported service-plan information your team has supplied.
Open the attendee view on a phone and read along during rehearsal. Check the audio and connection from the places people will use it.
After the service, return to the stored transcript to check what was said and prepare for the week.
If the sound stops during the service, the dashboard says so within about 20 seconds. If the connection drops, it retries on its own; if it shows “Connection lost,” use Start service and follow the dashboard’s resume guidance.
Transcribe in the Storehouse
Your service transcript is stored in your church's account. Under the Storehouse governance proposal, your leaders would choose which reviewed teaching becomes part of the inheritance. Translate carries the live words across languages; Transform explores their use through the week.
Questions churches ask
The spoken service from your existing audio feed — sermon, prayers, and spoken liturgy. Prepared songs, readings, and responses come separately from your connected Planning Center service plan; they are bulletin content, not live transcription.
No. They open your Lingual link in their phone browser and read along. There is no app, receiver or headset to hand out.
Yes. Transcripts and translations are stored in your church's account. The dashboard's Delete hides a service and its public archive; an operator can restore it. It does not permanently erase the stored service data. Service audio follows a 10-day retention window, with a daily purge shortly after it ends; audio recording can be disabled on request. Read the Privacy Policy for retention details. Choosing reviewed teaching for the proposed Storehouse is a separate decision your team would make.
No. Recognized Scripture passages are shown from a published, human-translated Bible edition — never machine-translated and never paraphrased from the transcript.
Start with one Sunday
Set up the audio feed, rehearse the attendee view, and read your own service the way a first-time guest would.
