If you have been asked or if you would like to volunteer to conduct a funeral or a celebration of the person's life, this guide is for you and will help you prepare to meet with the family and prepare and coordinate the service. It is written from the perspective of a Christian pastor but provides guidance for a range of secular and sacred services. Included are sample outlines for a service, guidance for how to prepare your personal remarks, and sample introductions, prayers, readings, poems, scriptures, and benedictions. In the guide you will find tips and suggestions for how to conduct a service which is warm, deeply personal, responsive to the family's desires, and fitting to the one being remembered and celebrated.

For funerals, you need no permit, license, or permission at all, other than an invitation by someone who would like you to be the one to conduct the ceremony. There are no restrictions for conducting a funeral or celebration of life. So why would a layperson conduct a funeral? Perhaps a clergy leader is not available. Maybe you are church leader or on the staff of a church and know the family well. Or, a person may have no religious affiliation but the family would like to have a service of celebration or remembrance and have asked you to officiate. Perhaps the family situation is complicated and it was felt that you could provide the right leadership for a service. Or, maybe an informal service is desired by the sea, atop a mountain, in the forest, or at some other location, where the family desires you to coordinate the time together. There are many reasons why you have been selected and if that happens, you need this guide to help you to produce a meaningful and fitting service. The book is especially valuable for church leaders, deacons, and church staff who may be invited to conduct funerals or celebrations of a person's life.