Funeral service order
Christian service (non-denominational): the order of service
A Christian service runs about 60 minutes and has 11 parts, from the gathering music to the recessional. 8 of them are the ones that hold the service together; the rest depend on the family.
Scripture, prayer, and a message of comfort, without denomination-specific liturgy.
A layperson may lead the whole service. No US state requires ordination to conduct a funeral.
The running order
Times are clocked from an 11:00 AM start — the funeral director’s schedule sets yours.
Gathering musicoptional
Soft music as people arrive.
Processional
The casket and immediate family enter.
Welcome
You greet those gathered and name the purpose.
Opening prayer
A prayer to open the service.
Scripture
One or more passages chosen with the family.
Hymnoptional
A congregational hymn or performed piece.
The life
The account of their life, given by you or a family member.
Remembrancesoptional
Others invited to speak.
Message
Your reflection, connecting the reading to comfort and hope.
Closing prayer
The final prayer.
Recessional
The casket and family leave.
This is a run-sheet — the timing tool the person leading the service holds, with the clock running down the margin. It is not the printed order of service handed to guests at the door. The funeral home or the family usually prints that, and the two need to agree, so send whoever is printing it your final running order.
Questions
How long is a Christian service?
A Christian service runs about 60 minutes and has 11 parts, from the gathering music to the recessional: gathering music 10, processional 4, welcome 3, opening prayer 2, scripture 6, hymn 4, the life 12, remembrances 12, message 12, closing prayer 3, recessional 4 — minutes per part, worked out at a spoken pace of roughly 130 words a minute plus the movement around each one. These are the same figures the run-sheet uses.
What comes first in a Christian service?
Gathering music. Soft music as people arrive. It runs about 10 minutes, and it is what the clock starts on — 11:00 AM in the example below.
What can be left out of a Christian service?
Gathering music, Hymn, Remembrances — none of these is required, and cutting them is how you get the service back inside the time you were given. The rest carry the shape.
Is this the same as the printed order of service?
This is a run-sheet — the timing tool the person leading the service holds, with the clock running down the margin. It is not the printed order of service handed to guests at the door. The funeral home or the family usually prints that, and the two need to agree, so send whoever is printing it your final running order.
This is the shape. The words are the other half.
Answer some questions about them and get this running order filled in with a full word-for-word script, cue cards for each part, a day-of checklist, and a sheet on what the funeral director handles.
Other shapes
- Celebration of life (secular)70 minNo liturgy. Built entirely around the person and the people who knew them.
- Protestant service (mainline)60 minEpiscopal, Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian and Baptist practice, with set liturgy woven through.
- Catholic vigil (wake service)39 minThe evening gathering before the funeral — the part of Catholic practice a layperson may lead.
- Jewish funeral55 minPsalms, hesped, and the graveside — traditionally led by a rabbi or cantor.
- Memorial service60 minHeld after burial or cremation — no casket present, and more room to shape it.
- Graveside or committal30 minAt the grave. Short, outdoors, and often without a microphone.