Funeral

A fitting farewell

There is often no greater pain in life than the loss of a loved one. We offer you advice based on our experience, but of course we will tailor the eulogy and the order of the funeral service to your wishes.

We will work with you to consider how your wishes can be brought to life in practical terms. At the funeral, the deceased should be honoured for who they were and their uniqueness.

It is wonderful when we can say goodbye to the deceased with love. But there are also relationships or circumstances that are fraught with difficulty, making the farewell even harder. You are not alone in this either, and you do not have to keep it to yourself.

If you have to bury a child, we are here to support you. We also organise farewell ceremonies for an unborn child. This may take place some time later, or even years later.

We also come to conduct a final blessing. The final blessing is a peaceful ritual at the deathbed, involving the lighting of a candle, prayer and words of blessing, and time to talk together about this very special person.

We believe that our departed loved ones are with God. They are returning to their eternal home. This applies to everyone, no matter how young or old they were, how long they lived, or what their lives were like.

Funerals – how do they actually work?

Do you feel you don’t belong to any particular church congregation? Is the funeral due to take place in Essen, but you’re coming from further afield? Then we’re the right people to contact.

When a death occurs, you’ll usually start by contacting the funeral home of your choice. It’s helpful if contact is established quickly between us and the funeral home. If you’d like our support, please ask the staff there to get in touch with us. However, you’re also welcome to contact us directly. We’ll get back to you as soon as possible to arrange a meeting or help you get in touch with the appropriate parish.

We organise traditional and innovative farewell ceremonies, including at unusual venues if you wish. But of course, we’re also happy to facilitate a very small funeral with just a few close relatives gathered directly at the grave.

You might also be thinking about saying a few words or reading something out at the funeral service. That takes courage. We’d be happy to support you with that too.

If the funeral involves bringing together different denominations, religions, cultures or languages, we will work with you to find the right approach. We also have multilingual colleagues in our team and can involve other clergy members. We do our utmost to ensure that no one is held back on this final journey together!