There are several considerations for pastors putting together the pieces for bilingual worship in their churches.
By Mark A. Smith
Years ago my family lived and served as missionaries in Guatemala. Kimberly, one of my son’s friends, came over to play one day, and we decided to complete a puzzle. I watched as Kimberly started the puzzle from the inside out. This fascinated me because I had spent my entire life completing puzzles a different way—building the outside pieces first, then filling in the rest. In 40 years of playing with puzzles, I had never seen or thought about completing them a different way.
A brief history
About 16 years ago, my family returned to the States from the mission field, and I became the campus pastor of a satellite church. I was charged with pastoring a small, English-speaking congregation and planting a Spanish-speaking church in the same location. The leadership didn’t see it yet, but God was forming a bilingual church.
Fast forward two years, and the church had grown into two services, one in Spanish and one in English. We used the same praise band (with different vocalists), the same songs (translated), and the same language-specific messages in both worship hours.
Our motivation was to unify the church with the same music and message each week, regardless of the language. Desiring to deepen our family of faith, we began bilingual services every fifth Sunday to celebrate baptisms, the Lord’s Supper, baby dedications, and other special moments.
The great disruption
Five years ago, we successfully replanted the church as Refuge Church Nashville. A year later, the pandemic hit, and we spent over a year leading two online services in English and Spanish. When we were able to conduct in-person services again, we had lost more than half our congregation to geographic moves, job changes, and drop-outs. To build community again, we moved to one bilingual service. What started as a temporary solution has become our consistent model for the past three years.
The puzzle of bilingual worship
A recent Lifeway Research study found most Hispanic Protestant pastors in the United States conduct worship services in Spanish (69%). However, 18% lead all bilingual services, 12% have separate services for Spanish, English, and/or bilingual, and 2% lead worship services in all English.
There are several considerations when putting the pieces together for bilingual worship in your church. Whether you are an English-speaking church looking to begin bilingual worship or a Hispanic church looking to morph your single-language worship, these seven elements are a good place to start.
Among U.S. Hispanic Protestant churches, 69% conduct worship services in Spanish, 18% lead all bilingual services, 12% have separate services for Spanish, English, and/or bilingual, and 2% lead all services in English. Share on X1. Define your context
Is your target group first-, second-, or third-generation immigrants? In other words, were both, one, or neither parent born outside the U.S.? What is the dominant culture or language spoken at home? Your target group may be a mixture, but knowing this will help you determine their comfort level with bilingual songs and messages.
When we began our ministry 15 years ago, we connected with Latinos through our soccer ministry and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes. Probably 80% spoke only Spanish. Fifteen years later, around 80% speak English, even if their heart language is Spanish.
One reason we were able to transform into bilingual worship was that the nature of our people changed. Our current worship has also begun to attract bilingual couples who are looking for a place to worship together. We also have foster families with Hispanic children and teens in their care who are looking for worship that everyone in their home can enjoy.
2. Clarify your vision
Bilingual worship is more than taking songs and messages and translating them into another language. Engaging with a different ethnic group in your community changes the culture of your church. Think about the selection of the first deacons in Acts 6. They wanted to intentionally minister to Greek-speaking widows. They chose seven Greek men (at least those with Greek names) to lead the ministry. This solution meant the early church had representation from a marginalized group that would influence future decisions and directions. What is the long-term vision for creating bilingual worship in your church?
“Engaging with a different ethnic group in your community changes the culture of your church.” — Mark A. Smith Share on X3. Count the cost
I live in a diverse city, but it doesn’t have a long history of multilingual businesses, entertainment, or churches. Your city or town may be similar. In doing this for 15 years, I’ve never had someone visit our church from another city and say, “We attended bilingual worship in our last church, and we are looking for something similar here.” Chances are, you are plowing new ground.
Regardless of the ethnic makeup of your church, this will stretch your people. Over the years, we’ve lost some English and Spanish speakers who simply did not like bilingual services or thought they were too confusing. Others lost the vision of what we were doing and grew weary of worshiping outside their comfort zone.
Adding bilingual worship as a second service option is less costly than only having one bilingual worship service. Celebrate what the church is doing and remind your congregation of the vision, because it will stretch your leadership and your people.
4. Use technology wisely
Your skill level and the language resources in your church and community will dictate where to begin. I have seen several models over the years—a live translation from the platform, paid or volunteer translators transmitting to headphones, and apps that simultaneously interpret in another language.
In my experience, translation technology works best in larger churches for two reasons. First, many larger churches have sound or media directors who can make sure the technology works. Second, Latinos who attend larger churches tend to be more comfortable using technology. Smaller churches often lose the personal connection or have more difficulty using and maintaining the technology.
5. Think through the translation
I craft bilingual messages and translate live for myself each week. Before you stop reading this article, I know this is a rare skill most speakers are not equipped for. When we have guests preaching, we use skilled volunteers and encourage them to translate the message as passionately as it is preached.
If you work with a translator, develop a rhythm with them. Speak one sentence or phrase and then pause for the interpretation. Remember that it often takes more time to say something in Spanish than in English.
Maintain eye contact with the audience and avoid the tendency to look at the translators when they speak. The goal is that everyone will hear and understand the gospel in both languages.
6. Develop content bilingually
The formation of messages in a bilingual context is unique. When speaking regularly to a multi-ethnic group, you may quickly realize how much of your speaking is connected to stories, idioms, and references other language groups may not understand. Beyond the translation of the text, do you have the bilingual congregation in mind when you pray through and prepare the message?
Also, remember that translated messages take more time. We usually stick to one main Scripture passage and no more than 10 verses (20 in both languages.) Bilingual sermons should be simple enough to understand cross-culturally and deep enough to challenge and inspire anyone.
There is an amazing spiritual and cultural exchange in the room when people from diverse backgrounds grow in worship together.
“When speaking regularly to a multi-ethnic group, you may quickly realize how much of your speaking is connected to stories, idioms, and references other language groups may not understand.” — Mark A. Smith Share on X7. Select music intentionally
I purposely wrote about music last because I believe the other considerations are often overlooked. In our bilingual worship, we often sing a verse and chorus in English, then in Spanish. Sometimes we make every chorus bilingual if it repeats, which many praise and worship songs do. I wouldn’t suggest doing two songs in English and two in Spanish. You want to engage the entire congregation rather than having language groups waiting their turn.
Your song selections may be limited by songs that haven’t been translated yet or themes that may not be clearly understood in Spanish. We often translate worship songs, but it’s more difficult than you think. It’s not only about translating the words. It’s also about phrasing them in a way people will understand and fitting the words into the “pocket” of the melody. Don’t just use Google Translate and try to sing it in Spanish.
Like your resources with translation, your musicians, vocalists, and language abilities will determine where to begin. Because you are reaching a multi-ethnic audience, their worship experiences and expectations will be as diverse as their cultures. Because your bilingual worship is unique to most people in the room, develop your own flavor based on what you can do now and where you believe the Lord is taking you in the future.
Here is one last bit of wisdom as you venture into bilingual worship. You will need to become more comfortable with messiness. While we always pursue excellence in our worship, we continue to make mistakes. I have made more errors in my Spanish than I can remember, but we have learned to laugh with one another and to show grace. We have pieced together bilingual songs and rhythms that flopped but learned flexibility and patience.
Bilingual worship is often like completing a puzzle in a different way than you have before and celebrating the beautiful image it creates in the process.
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