Featured Does your church have funeral guidelines?

I am going to be putting together our funeral guidelines in a brochure format for our congregation. Do any of your churches have something like this put together? Would it be possible to post it so I could get some ideas of what to include in ours? Thanks!

 

Oh absolutely! I think our only charge is $50 for the custodial staff since usually it's a "not scheduled" kind of a thing and it's extra time on the part of the staff - most of whom are volunteer. But otherwise, there is no cost.

No, what I'm thinking of is do you have any guidelines set up for service order, whether you allow other pastors to do the service in your church, having picture slideshows, specific music and things like that. I spent over 6 hours yesterday working on the funeral service to set it up, make a slideshow out of 520 slides (OH MY GOSH!!!) and then actually do the lyrics and visuals for the service. I found this online and am thinking of modifying it for our needs. There are definitely things we do differently but it would probably be helpful for a family to have all of the information in one place. http://crossroadschristiancenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/CCC-Funeral-Handout1.pdf

 

See, I'm just thinking of something to help them think things through, kind of like we do for weddings. "Here is a sample memorial service order with some ideas for songs/hymns that you might want to sing." kind of thing. We usually do the slideshow/video (well, I do it) and I'm thinking of putting together some ideas for that too - approximately 50-60 pictures and some ideas for songs. It might be nice to have a hand-out to give a grieving family to take home for them to think through it a little bit.

 

See - It's not so much "rules" but suggestions and a guide to help the family put the funeral together. Usually the planning is done with very little notice and I think having a paper is handy to be able to help plan. I know that usually the family will meet with one of the pastors and the pastor will work through it with them but I think being able to take a brochure or something would be good too. Yeah - the 520 photos was excessive and I was really surprised that someone even has that many photos of someone but then again, she was 84 and lived a good long life. In this funeral, there was no funeral home involved other than handling the body and casket and stuff - everything was done at the church. We had afternoon and evening visitation, an 8 pm service and then the body stayed at the church until the morning when they did a short 15 minute prayer time before they headed to the cemetery. That is pretty typical for us around here although definitely there are times that the visitation is at the funeral home and then the service is at our church.

For each of our funeral services, there are times of worship in song, eulogies and a message of salvation for those who are behind. No one leaves one of our funerals without finding out the hope that is in Jesus Christ.

 

Definitely don't want to be legalistic at all but want to help the family during a very stressful and disorienting time.

 

RSR - That sounds like my church. The messages at funerals are always wonderful and God honoring and addressing the needs of the congregation there. It's not an easy job but when done well, it is such a blessing to the family.