Guides / How to show Shona (chiShona) Bible verses on your church screen

How to show Shona (chiShona) Bible verses on your church screen

For Zimbabwean congregations: the verse in English and chiShona at once.

Shona and English, on one screen

Scrivent listens to the sermon, finds each Bible verse the preacher quotes, and puts it on the projector, the livestream and members’ phones. Choose Shona as the second language and the same verse appears in Shona directly under the English. With both on screen, an English sermon and a Shona-reading congregation meet in the middle.

What it looks like

John 3:16, as the screen shows it in Shona:

Nokuti Mwari akada nyika nokudaro, kuti akapa Mwanakomana wake mumwe oga, kuti ani naani anotenda kwaari arege kufa asi ave noupenyu husingaperi.

And Psalm 23:1: Jehovha ndiye mufudzi wangu, hapana chandingashayiwa.

Where Shona is read

chiShona is read across most of Zimbabwe and in Zimbabwean churches in South Africa, the UK and beyond.

Which Shona Bible this is

This is Biblica’s Bhaibheri Dzvene Rakasununguka MuChiShona Chanhasi, a modern translation published under an open licence (CC BY-SA 4.0), and the screen credits it “© Biblica” as that licence asks. It is a contemporary translation, so wording will differ from the older Shona Bible many members carry.

How to switch it on

Open the console. In the Bible list on the left, keep your English Bible (KJV, BSB, WEB and 15 more).
Open + No second language above the screens and choose chiShona (SNA).
Push any verse and look at the projector: English on top, Shona underneath. Members following on their phones see both too.

Prefer Shona alone? Pick it in the Bible list as the main translation and leave the second language empty.

Can the pastor preach in Shona?

Being honest: automatic detection listens for English. A verse quoted in English, even in the middle of a sermon in Shona, is caught and shown in both languages. A verse spoken only in Shona is not detected yet, because live speech recognition is not reliable enough in it today. The operator can still find any verse in the Bible browser and push it by hand, in Shona and English together.

What it costs

Nothing. Scrivent is free for every church right now: unlimited live transcription and detection, all 34 Bibles in 16 languages, the projector and the livestream overlay, with no watermark.

Start free · Ndebele Bible on screen · Bible browser.

Free for every church.Set up in about ten minutes — no card, nothing to install.

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