A Church of England funeral is available to everyone, giving support before, during and after the service, for as long as it’s needed.
You can choose a funeral at a church or at a crematorium. Your loved one does not need to be baptised, a church community member or a Christian. We can offer a funeral to anyone.
The service may include the celebration of your loved one's life, but it is more than that. The heart of the service recognizes that young or old, popular or unpopular - they were made by God, that he loves them and in the service, we entrust that special person into God's safekeeping.
The traditional words of the Church of England funeral service have been used for generations, and because they are so well recognised can bring comfort to family members. If you would like the vicar can help you decide on ways to personalise the service through readings from the bible or poems and music choices.
The fees for a Church of England service are fixed (Usually you won't need to worry about it separately as it will be included in the funeral director's total bill.) There may be extra charges for the organist or for a verger.
There is no fee for the funeral of a child or young person under the age of 16 or for the burial of a stillborn infant.
You can find more information about organising a funeral, choices of service and what you can include on the Church of England funerals website.
Funeral Collections
Families often like to ask for a collection to be taken during or after a funeral service for a charity or cause special to their loved one.
Churches are usually happy for this to take place but do discuss it with the vicar before the service as the church may have its own policies concerning collections, which must be observed. By law, the purposes for which money is collected in a Church of England church or churchyard have to be agreed by the vicar and Parochial Church Council (PCC) and accounted for by the PCC before being passed on to the nominated charity.
It may be helpful if a member of your family or a friend can join church officials to count the collection after the service. This family representative can also receive any personal cards and messages left for you in the collection plate. However, we recognise that this may not always be possible, for example, if the whole party must leave the church to go on to a committal service in the crematorium.
Please visit our funeral collections page for more detailed guidance.