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The Days of Weeping

Grief in the tearoom

Ruth Green, Writer for Church of England Life Events
While on a recent holiday to the Isle of Wight, our family visited the most delightful tearoom one could imagine. ...

A look back at the Summer 2019 funerals conference

Cathy Myers, Life Events Resources Manager
At the beginning of June, over 120 clergy and lay leaders were joined by people working to support the bereaved ...

A Life Events Prayer for the Summer

The Revd Sandra Millar, Head of Life Events
Use this prayer any time you wish over the summer, for yourself and all your colleagues, who will be meeting ...

Relatable church, relatable Jesus

The Revd Sandra Millar, Head of Life Events
I feel as if I am late to the party with the word ‘relatable’. I’ve only just discovered how widely ...

Death, bereavement and the media agenda

The Revd Sandra Millar, Head of Church of England Life Events
Films books, television,  magazines, YouTube; suddenly the media is alert to the fact that death changes the living. When someone ...

Introducing The Life Events Diary

The Life Events Diary (LED) is custom-built online software with the potential to radically streamline administration for baptisms, weddings, banns ...

2019 Funerals Conference – Circles of Impact

The Church of England national funeral conference, Circles of Impact: funerals, bereavement and communities, and the National Funeral Exhibition are happening ...

A Christmas Prayer for You

From the Life Events Team
During the busy time over the Christmas season, Life Events continue. We offer this prayer, signed by Penelope Beschizza, for ...

Death and Life Project, Oxford Diocese

Officers in the Diocese of Oxford have developed resources for churches to support them in encouraging conversations about living in ...

Exploring Faith Journeys

Life Events Team
Benita Hewitt has been involved in research for 40 years and following a profound experience in her 40s which led ...

Death has a sharper sting for the faithful – Co-op

Co-op Funeralcare has released some interesting research into attitudes towards talking about death among those who have faith and those ...

Life after death: article in Church Times on bereavement ministry

Church Times
The Life Events team commends this feature in the Church Times as worth a read. It offers in-depth reflections on ...

Building bridges: What does follow up look like? 

The Revd Sandra Millar, Head of Life Events
A quick look through my inbox reveals all the organisations that keep in touch with me – and some send ...

The law on waiving parochial fees

The Revd Tiffer Robinson
In 2013 the Church of England brought in new legislation regarding parochial fees, and it's probably fair to say that ...

Death, Bodies and Changing Attitudes to Funerals Debated

A wide-ranging conference highlighting rapidly changing attitudes to death, bodies and ashes was held last month at the National Memorial ...

Death as a subject at school

From BBC News website
This interesting article on the BBC News website shows how the conversation around death and dying continues to grow, globally ...

Life Events Ministry and GDPR

A Life Event service is a wonderful opportunity to show the warmth of God’s love, and to welcome those who ...

Vicar interview in Funeral Directors’ Monthly

Life Events Team
It's great to see former Funeral Celebrant of the Year winner the Revd Juliet Stevenson interviewed in the 2017 Christmas edition ...

More than paper – service sheets and lasting memories

The Revd Canon Sandra Millar
Changes in printing technology means that producing a very special service sheet is now an  integral part of the funeral ...

Life events make special memories

The Revd Canon Sandra Millar, Head of Church of England Life Events
I recently read a report which explored the psychology of memory and decision making:  it seems we make future decisions ...

The role of ‘remembering’ on the journey to faith

The Revd Canon Sandra Millar, Head of Church of England Life Events
As October draws to a close and November begins, the Church of England will see some of its largest congregations ...

Ashes to ashes…and then what?

The Revd Dr Jeremy Brooks, Team Rector, Beaconsfield Team Ministry
What happens to ashes after cremation?  How can the church help with the disposal of loved ones’ remains? June this year, ...

Cake and conversation – with Funeral Directors

On Friday June 9th 160 clergy and readers from the Church of England headed into the National Funeral Exhibition as ...

Ministry at Grenfell Tower

Rev Dr Gabby Thomas, curate at St Mary with St Alban, Teddington
Rev Dr Gabby Thomas, a curate at St Mary with St Alban, Teddington. She writes here about the churches’ response ...

The Opportunity of Dying Matters Awareness Week

Rev David Primrose, Director of Transforming Communities for Lichfield Diocese
Dying Matters Awareness Week, which takes place in May, raises an opportunity to help parishes and congregations feel more confident about ...

GraveTalk leads to new path for LLM

Katherine Bloomer, LLM, Draycot Benefice, North Wiltshire
It’s not often my 12 year old son and husband are united in their response “Who spends their weekend thinking ...

Death on the mountains

David Nixon, Dean of Studies of South West Ministry Training Course
Follow the link below for a theological analysis of a dramatic story in which an unexpected death turns a holiday ...

What makes ‘a good funeral’?

Diocese of Southwark
The Revd Helen Hancock, Team Rector of the Tolworth, Hook & Surbiton Team Ministry and Emma Sparre-Slater, Senior Funeral Director ...

Stepping into the unknown

The Revd Canon Sandra Millar, Head of Life Events
Last week I was being royally treated by a diocese somewhere in England. Due to the pressure of time between ...

Being present, being there – live-streaming of funerals

The Revd Canon Sandra Millar, Head of Projects & Developments
I was in a traditional  English market-town church this Sunday, and as I scanned their weekly pew-sheet, I noticed that ...

Specialist care at funerals wins award

A Church of England priest has won a national award for her outstanding contribution to work on helping make funerals ...

GraveTalk on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour

Projects Team
This report on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour is recorded in the parish of Darfield, Barnsley, as a GraveTalk session is in ...

Reflections on an EastEnders Funeral

Breathing new life into the funeral business

Project Team
This is an interesting overview of how the funeral business has developed since the Victorians and, from a business perspective, ...

Warm contacts, wider contacts

The Revd Dr Sandra Millar, Head of Projects & Developments, Archbishops' Council
Every week the Church of England is involved with around 3000 funerals, 2000 baptisms of children under 12 and 1000 ...

Join the ‘Big Conversation’

The Revd Canon Dr Sandra Millar, Head of Projects and Developments, Archbishops’ Council
The chatter is getting louder. More voices are joining in all the time as people of all ages and from ...

Don’t just talk about it, do it!

Rev'd Jan Fielden
I found the "Taking Funerals seriously" conference extremely helpful last summer, giving me ideas to develop this ministry ...

‘Meet the death doulas’ – article in The Guardian for interest

This feature in The Guardian about ‘death doulas’ raises some familiar challenges for encouraging people to discuss death and dying.

We’ve been hiding our light under a bushel for too long

“Shattered”

Revd Dr Tom Wilson
Like most vicars I have taken quite a lot of funerals, some straightforward, others complex and challenging. I have also ...

Can a Christian have a vocation to be a Funeral Celebrant?

Alan Stanley
My name is Alan Stanley. Six years ago before I took an early retirement from my dental practice, I had ...

Dying Matters

The Revd Dr Sandra Millar, Head of Projects & Developments, Archbishops' Council
The past few years has seen the beginning of a major cultural shift in our attitudes to talking about death. ...

“We do good funerals”: why church-led funerals help families

The Revd Juliet Stephenson
As I sit and reflect upon the bizarre events of the last week, in which against what seemed massive ...

CofE vicar wins Funeral Celebrant of the Year

A Church of England vicar was named Funeral Celebrant of the Year at the Good Funeral Awards. The Revd ...

Bereavement training

Helen Tourle, Cruse Training Manager
        Clergy and church members who are interested in developing their skills in bereavement support may like to attend Cruse's one-day loss ...

Bishop of Sheffield blog on GraveTalk

Why our bodies matter!

Jeremy Brooks
The funeral of Philip Bradbourn has caused a stir in the press recently. The MEP died just before Christmas and had ...

The Relationship Between Funeral Directors and Clergy

Richard Reakes
My name is Richard Reakes and I am currently Team Vicar of Bishop’s Cleeve in Gloucestershire, but prior to this ...

The privilege of funerals ministry

Vic Van Den Bergh
Blogging Vicar, Vic Van Den Bergh, reflects on why, for him, funerals are one of the greatest privileges of ordained ministry: "Again ...

When and how to hire a BSL interpreter for a Church of England led funeral

Rev Canon Gill Behenna, the Church of England National Deaf Ministry Adviser
Deaf people who use British Sign Language (BSL) often go to their local Chaplain, or specialist minister for Deaf people ...

Vigil Eucharists on the night before a funeral

Jeremy Brooks
In the last few years, I have increasingly encouraged members of my congregation to consider having a vigil eucharist on ...

Blue Christmas

Mary Hawes
From the middle of November, shops, media and advertising collude to convince us that Christmas is magical, full of joy ...

What is GraveTalk?

Projects Team
It has always been difficult to have conversations around death, dying and funerals, even more so when it gets personal. ...

Parting thoughts

Projects Team
This is a moving and deeply honest piece, published in Reform magazine, written by David Goodbourn in the face of ...

Tackling Funeral Poverty in Lichfield Diocese

David Primrose, Diocese of Lichfield
Every week in the Diocese of Lichfield, our clergy and readers take an average over 160 funerals, yet when meeting ...