Who Can Conduct A Funeral Service?
Contrary to popular belief, anybody can actually conduct a funeral service and there are many popular alternatives to the traditional religious leaders taking services. We’re sharing some of the different people you can use to conduct a funeral service if you are looking for something more unique.
Civil celebrants
Civil celebrants are more suitable for those who don’t want to use religious motivated conductors, but you can tailor your service to add elements of religion in if you do want to add something like hymns or a reading from religious content.
Civil funerals focus more on the unique needs of the family and friends, and how they want to celebrate the life of a loved one, rather than sticking to the status quo of a generic religious leading service.
These kinds of funerals are becoming more popular as religion is not something that is as widely popular or followed as it once was, so these alternatives can be more suitable and more fitting for a lost loved one who maybe didn’t follow a particular religion or have religious beliefs at all.
Some people may choose to add elements of religion into the service and that is welcomed just as must as non-religious settings, you have the freedom to find what works for you and fits right for the service you want to reflect and honour the person that has passed.
A member of the family or friends
As we stated above, anybody can conducted a funeral and if your loved one wanted something different or more personalised, having a family member or friend lead the service can be a fitting way to pay tribute if somebody is comfortable to do that.
The role can be a lot of pressure so making sure you, or the family member or friend must be comfortable and organised in doing so, and feel that they are able to lead an organised funeral. Leading can include readings of prayers, poems and eulogies, amongst other things so making sure you are a comfortable and literate speaker is essential in taking on the position.
Another option is splitting the service between several family members and friend which can take the pressure off one individual and can be a perfect way for people to feel that they have been involved and have done the loved one justice by leading the perfect tribute to them.
Humanist celebrant
This particular leader is very niche and would likely be something that is planned and vocalised by a loved one if they had the opportunity to choose what kind of service they would like.
A humanist celebrant, and specifically humanism, is the belief of science as a meaning of understanding the universe and human purpose, which can be an important part of a person’s outlook on life and death, which would be considered a fitting way to celebrate and honour a person’s life when they have passed.
Humanist celebrants pride themselves on being compassionate and supportive, they will meet with the family to ensure they create and lead a service that is unique and personal to the person they are celebrating. There would be no room to add religious content into the service with these celebrants, but they will offer to honour the person’s life in the way that is fitting and suitable to them.