Funerals

You have options here. Services can be held in either of the two sites of Devana Parish Church itself (Fonthill Road or Holburn Street) or at a Funeral Director's own chapel with a committal for the body thereafter either at a crematorium or graveside. Sometimes the funeral service and committal all take place at the crematorium or graveside. And sometimes circumstances mean that the committal will already have taken place before the service: in that case a Memorial Service can be held later at the church at which the person who has died is remembered.

We will work with you and the Funeral Directors.

Note that there is no fee for the use of the church sanctuary for funerals. There are fees for organist, church officer, and so on.

If you wish Devana Parish Church to be involved then please let your Funeral Director know and they will get in touch with us to make arrangements. Normally, either of the ministers, Rev David Stewart and Rev Peter Johnston, or one of our elders who has received training as a Church of Scotland Funeral Celebrant, Yvonne Haig, will conduct the service.

Yes, absolutely. This can take many forms. The person conducting the service will meet with you and talk with you about the service and about your loved one's life. They will help you to decide on any music to be used or hymns that will be sung and to talk about what else will be contained in the service.

If a family member or friend wishes to give the eulogy, read a poem, sing a song or play a musical piece in tribute, these can be incorporated into the service and the church representative will give you guidance on these based on their experience.

Yes, the sanctuary at Devana Parish Church (Fonthill Road) has a full audio-visual system that means we can show photographs or videos as part of the service. It can be very powerful to show photographs during the eulogy or as a reflective moment during the service. The process of both talking through your loved one's life with the church representative and picking out suitable photographs can also be very therapeutic for family and friends. Aberdeen crematorium has a similar facility.

Yes, this facility is available at Devana Parish Church (Fonthill Road). Discuss this with the representative from the church when they visit with you. You will be provided with a link which you can share with family and friends ahead of the service. This is an unlisted link and only those who have the link will be able to view the service.

While most funeral services have certain elements that are common, each one is different as it is tailored to suit the particular situation.

A service led by the Minister or Funeral Celebrant will be a Christian one and will usually incorporate a reading from the Bible and a prayer. These will be incorporated into the service in such a way as to help those at the funeral service through their emotions, offering the chance to remember, to give thanks, to seek healing and offer hope.

Funeral services can be filled with many different emotions: sometimes tears, of course, at other times laughter in remembering funny stories, but we always strive to make them meaningful and appropriate for the person and family.

If you have asked for the service to be streamed online then that video will remain available. We also usually profuce a booklet after the service which contains some of what was said during the service as a permanent memory of this special service. Further copies are available on request as needed.

The Church of Scotland is very aware of the expense of funeral services and has been working with others to raise this concern across the country.

There is no fee or cost associated with the services of either the Minister or our Funeral Celebrant. If the service is held at the Funeral Director's chapel, crematorium or graveside there is thus no charge from Devana Parish Church.

If the church building is used there is no charge for the actual use of the church building, but there is a cost for the services of some of the other people that are involved in the service, such as the organist (£110), church officer (£55), sound/AV operator (£55), webstream operator (£55) as required.

You will usually receive a visit from someone from the church with copies of the service booklet (and often flowers too). The Minister and Funeral Celebrant are also always available thereafter to provide further support as may be required.

We will also provide you with an opportunity to add the name of your loved one to a Book of Remembrance. Each day of the year has a separate page and we add names to the appropriate page for the date of death. Every day the book is turned to that day's page.

In addition each year on the Sunday nearest to All Saint's Day (1 November) a special evening service is held for those who want to remember a loved one and at which we recite all the names that have been added to the Book of Remembrance during that year.