Church captioning: live captions for every service
Somewhere in your congregation, someone is watching the sermon instead of hearing it — a Deaf member, a grandfather whose hearing aids fight the room, a guest whose English arrives a half-second too slow. Live captioning puts the words on the phone in their hands, in real time, every service.
What church captioning looks like
As the pastor preaches, complete sentences stream onto each guest's phone — not a jittery word-salad that rewrites itself, but readable lines that arrive as the thought completes. Guests join by scanning a QR code; the captions open in their phone's browser with no app to install and no account to create. Each person controls their own screen: font size, scroll-back, their language.
That last part matters more than it first appears. Captioning and translation are the same broadcast here — captions are available in 190+ languages, with a natural spoken voice in 60+. The same QR code that serves your hard-of-hearing members serves your Spanish-speaking families. One system, every service, the whole room.
Who it's really for
- Deaf and hard-of-hearing members. The sermon as live text, at their own reading pace, without depending on a volunteer interpreter being available every week.
- Older members. Age-related hearing loss is the most common accessibility need in most congregations — and the least announced. Captions serve it without anyone having to ask.
- Second-language listeners. Many guests can follow spoken English but miss pieces at sermon speed. Captions — in English or their own language — fill the gaps.
- Everyone at the edges of the room. The cry room, the overflow, the lobby, the seat under the balcony speaker. If the audio is imperfect where they sit, the text isn't.
Captions support accessibility — a straight word about the legal side
Live captioning is one of the most widely adopted ways to support accessibility for Deaf and hard-of-hearing attendees, and many churches adopt it as part of a broader commitment to making services available to everyone. We deliberately don't make legal compliance claims: whether the ADA or any other standard applies to your congregation, and what it requires, is a question for your own legal and denominational advisors. What we provide is the capability — reliable live captions at every service — that accessibility efforts are built on.
What it takes to run
- The microphone or sound-board feed you already have.
- A laptop at the booth running the broadcast console in a web browser.
- A QR code — on the screen, in the bulletin, at the welcome desk.
No captioning stenographer to schedule, no display board to mount, no receivers to hand out. A real church runs exactly this setup every week: see how Cape Vineyard Church serves every language in the room, or the broader overview of MyOpenDoor Translate for churches.
What it costs
Captioning isn't a separate product or an add-on tier — every plan includes everything. Plans start at $149/month for 5 broadcast hours and up to 200 listeners, with a 15% nonprofit discount on the first two tiers, $0 setup, and no hardware line item ever. The free trial is a real weekend of your own services, no card required — see full pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How does live captioning work at church?
The pastor preaches into the microphone the church already uses. A laptop at the AV booth streams that audio to the captioning service, and complete sentences appear in real time on each guest’s own phone. Guests join by scanning a QR code — no app, no account, no special hardware.
Who benefits from church captions?
Deaf and hard-of-hearing members are the most direct beneficiaries, but captions serve more of the room than most churches expect: older members with age-related hearing loss, guests processing a second language, parents in the cry room, anyone seated near a loud speaker or in an overflow space, and members who simply retain more when they can read along.
Do captions support ADA accessibility efforts?
Live captions are a widely used way to support accessibility and make services easier to follow for Deaf and hard-of-hearing attendees. Whether any specific legal standard applies to your congregation is a question for your own advisors — we provide the captioning capability, not legal guidance.
Can guests adjust the caption size?
Yes. Captions render as live text on the guest’s own phone, so each person can increase the font size to what they can comfortably read and scroll back to catch anything they missed — it’s their screen, in their hands, at their reading pace.
What does church captioning cost?
MyOpenDoor Translate starts at $149/month for 5 broadcast hours and up to 200 listeners — captioning and translation are the same product, so the price covers both. Every feature is included on every plan, there is no hardware to buy, setup is $0, and nonprofits get 15% off the first two tiers.
Put the words in their hands this Sunday
Book a free live test and run captions in a real service. The moment that sells it isn't on this page — it's watching someone follow the whole sermon for the first time.