Memorial Program Maker

What goes in a funeral program

A funeral program has four main parts: a cover with the person’s name, dates and photo; the details of the service; the order of service; and the obituary or life story. Many programs also include a poem or scripture, the names of the pallbearers, a thank-you from the family, and where the burial and the meal will be.

The order of service depends on the faith and the family. Below are sample orders for five kinds of service. Ask the officiant to check your draft before you print, because many churches have their own order.

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Updated October 27, 2026

The parts of a program

  • Cover: a heading (“In Loving Memory”, “Celebrating the Life of”), their full name, dates and a photo
  • Service details: day, time, place and officiant
  • Order of service, with the name of each reader, singer or speaker beside their part
  • Obituary or life story
  • A poem, hymn or scripture
  • Pallbearers and honorary pallbearers
  • Acknowledgements: a thank-you from the family
  • Interment (burial) and repast (meal) details

The last four are optional. Leave out anything that doesn’t apply.

A Christian funeral (Protestant)

There is no fixed order across Protestant churches. This is a common pattern:

  1. Prelude (music as guests arrive)
  2. Processional, or seating of the family
  3. Welcome and opening words, by the pastor
  4. Opening prayer
  5. Hymn
  6. Old Testament reading
  7. New Testament reading
  8. Life story or obituary
  9. Eulogy
  10. Reflections from family and friends
  11. Hymn or special music
  12. Message (sermon)
  13. Closing prayer and benediction
  14. Recessional

A Catholic funeral Mass

The Catholic funeral Mass follows the Order of Christian Funerals, so families can’t freely reorder it. Families usually choose the readings, the music and who reads. A traditional funeral Mass has no eulogy. Words of remembrance are kept short, and some parishes move them to the vigil the night before or to the reception. The parish will tell you what it allows.

  1. Reception of the body and greeting
  2. Placing of the pall
  3. Entrance hymn
  4. Opening prayer
  5. Liturgy of the Word
  6. First reading
  7. Responsorial psalm
  8. Second reading (optional)
  9. Gospel acclamation
  10. Gospel
  11. Homily
  12. Prayer of the faithful
  13. Liturgy of the Eucharist
  14. Presentation of the gifts
  15. Holy Communion
  16. Final commendation and song of farewell
  17. Recessional

In the program, list each reading by book and verse with the reader’s name, for example “First Reading: Wisdom 3:1–9, read by Patrick O’Rourke”. The Lectionary texts used in US parishes are under copyright, so print the reference rather than the full text. If the family wants a service without a Mass, the parish can hold a funeral liturgy outside Mass, with readings and prayers but no Communion.

A Baptist homegoing service

In many Black Baptist and other church traditions, the funeral is called a homegoing or homegoing celebration. There is no fixed liturgy, and hymns are at the center of it. A typical order:

  1. Processional (the family enters)
  2. Hymn
  3. Scripture: Old Testament and New Testament
  4. Prayer
  5. Musical selection
  6. Reading of cards, resolutions and condolences
  7. Reflections (two minutes each)
  8. Obituary
  9. Musical selection
  10. Eulogy, by the pastor
  11. Recessional, with a final viewing

The program usually names everyone taking part, along with the pallbearers, the flower bearers and the place of interment. The repast follows.

For the dates on the cover, many homegoing programs use “Sunrise” and “Sunset” in place of “born” and “died”:

Sunrise: March 4, 1941
Sunset: October 19, 2026

Common cover headings are “Homegoing Celebration for”, “Celebrating the Life of” and “In Loving Memory of”. The program maker has a Sunrise / Sunset option for the dates.

A Jewish funeral

Jewish funerals are usually short, and many have no printed program at all. If the family wants one, keep it simple: the person’s name, the dates and a brief order. Leave out crosses and keep photos few or none. The Quiet style, which has no religious symbols, works well.

  1. Opening words, by the rabbi
  2. Psalm 23, or another psalm
  3. Eulogy (hesped)
  4. El Malei Rachamim (memorial prayer)
  5. Mourner’s Kaddish

Prayers are often printed in Hebrew, English and transliteration, and the rabbi can give you the wording the community uses. The program can also give the details of the burial and of shiva, the days after the funeral when the family receives visitors at home.

A celebration of life

A celebration of life has no set order. This one works for many families:

  1. Welcome
  2. A song they loved
  3. Life story
  4. Stories from family and friends
  5. A reading
  6. Open sharing
  7. Closing words
  8. Food and time together

More detail, including cover wording and non-religious readings, is on the celebration of life program page.

Wording examples

Pallbearers

List the names under a heading, one per line or separated by commas. Honorary pallbearers (people honored but not carrying the casket) go in a second list.

Pallbearers
Daniel Hale, Robert Porter, Samuel Hale, Lucas Hale, Owen Whitaker, Henry Porter

Honorary Pallbearers
The deacons of First Baptist Church

Acknowledgements

The family wishes to thank you for every card, call, meal and prayer. Your kindness has carried us through these days.
We are grateful to the nurses of Riverside Hospice for the care they gave Mom in her last weeks.
Thank you for being here. Dad would have been glad to see you all in one place.

Repast

The family invites you to join them for a meal in the church fellowship hall immediately after the service.
Repast: Grace Community Center, 210 Main Street, following the interment.

Interment

Interment will follow at Woodland Cemetery, 118 Woodland Avenue.
Interment will be private.
Inurnment at a later date.

Names and places in these examples are fictional.

Related guides

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