Why Accessibility Matters

When it comes to accessibility, it shouldn’t be a “nice-to-have” thing; it should be a priority, especially in church. When someone with hearing loss goes to church, they’re going with the hope and expectation, as everyone else, that they want to grow in faith, connect with God, and find strength within a message. However, when they can’t properly hear the message, they aren’t able to get the most out of your service. This can make the experience feel isolating. In the end, they could stop showing up. Everyone deserves the accessibility to connect with God, and catering to barriers, whether hearing or language barriers, is key to ensuring everyone feels welcome. 

What Is Sermon Live And How Can It Help?

Sermon Live is a tool designed to make your sermons better for the hearing impaired by providing real-time captions, live translations, and automatically generated transcripts. This tool is specifically tailored with churches in mind.

Sermon Live can help:

• The hearing impaired: Sermon Live provides instant closed captions. This way, your audience can follow the message by conveniently reading along.

   

• For multilingual congregations: Sermon Live can live translate your message into another language, so your audience can understand the message in the language they best feel comfortable with.

   

How to Use Sermon Live for the Hearing Impaired

Making your sermons accessible for the hearing impaired with Sermon Live is easier than you think. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how your church can become accessible today:

1. Choose The Plan That Works Best For You

To begin, go to your Sermon Live dashboard and click on “Language Setup”. Follow along with the instructions and choose the plan with text.  

2. Make Sure The Language Is Correct

Some individuals find it easier to process text in their native language. Sermon Live offers live translation into multiple languages to ensure everyone is included. For an additional cost, you can select multiple languages.

3. Choose Your Streaming Setup

Click on the streaming setup that would best benefit you. Direct Input is the recommended option. Once you’re ready, click on the “Continue” button. 

4. Set up Your Streaming

When you’re ready to begin your stream, click on the “Start Streaming” button. Your audience will have access to the stream with real-time captions included.

5. Giving Access

To make things easier, there’s a unique URL that will never change for your members to live stream. This means every week, they can head over to the same URL instead of going through the trouble of trying to find the new website every Sunday. Your members could also simply scan the QR code.

6. Share Your Transcripts With Your Members

When you’ve completed your stream, click on the “Dashboard” button on the left-hand side. You’ll have access to your streams, your stream link, and you’ll be able to download your text translation. You can send or email the download to members who may have missed your service but still want to be included. 

FAQs: Making Sermons More Accessible for the Hearing Impaired

Q: How can Sermon Live help the hearing impaired?
A: Sermon Live will provide you with real-time captions, translations, and transcripts. This way, your audience will have access and can follow along with your message during and after the service. 

Q: Is it expensive to add live captions to your sermons?
A: Nope! Sermon Live aims to be affordable for churches of all sizes. 

Q: Will captions only help the hearing impaired?
A: Nope! Captions can also be beneficial for non-native speakers and members who are visual learners and comprehend better by reading them.

Q: Is Sermon Live difficult to use?
A: Nope! Sermon Live was made with churches in mind, knowing that a pastor or creative director would be using it. This means that it’s quick to set up and easy to use so you can make your sermons better for the hearing impaired.