How Menlo Church brings hope to non-English speakers with real-time AI translation.
One of Silicon Valley's most prominent churches now serves its San Mateo and Menlo Park neighborhoods in eight languages every Sunday — with nothing for congregants to install.
of San Mateo homes speak another language
campuses using live translations
Sunday services with translations available
The Church
A Silicon Valley church in a neighborhood of many languages
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, Menlo Church 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 is uniquely positioned to reach people from many walks of life.
Challenge
A church unable to serve its immigrant neighbors
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 Bay Area is home to over 160 languages, with nearly 10% of households linguistically isolated — speaking English poorly or not at all.
The need is felt most strongly in San Mateo, where 45% of households speak a language other than English at home. Menlo San Mateo was the ideal starting point to provide translations for their services.
“San Mateo has a very large Asian population. We know our neighborhood and want it to be seeker friendly for them.”
Solution
One stream out of the soundboard, one link for the congregation
Menlo partnered with Pastors.ai for real-time AI translation, starting with a pilot in March 2025 and an official launch in August. The implementation was a simple vMix stream from the local soundboard to the Pastors.ai server, which translates the audio and broadcasts it to menlo.church/translate.
vMix streams the soundboard
No new hardware in the booth — the existing encoder does the work.
Congregants open menlo.church/translate
They pick a campus and language, and choose whether to listen to or read translations in real-time.
“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
Results & Impact
From two languages to eight, and no one left out of worship
Non-English speakers are no longer excluded from full worship participation — and the offering has grown from Mandarin and Spanish to eight languages across multiple campuses.
Making disciples of all nations
The large Asian American community at Menlo feels empowered to bring visiting parents and relatives to church, sparking faith discussions with people who have never had the Gospel shared with them.
Loving immigrant neighbors
The Bay Area is home to many who are linguistically isolated. Now Menlo 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 — confirmed by both automated evaluation and user feedback.
Translate your church's services
We take audio directly from your soundboard and hand you back a link to share with your church.