What happens at a Jehovah's Witnesses funeral Flashcards
Jehovah Witness funeral service
The Jehovah’s Witnesses funeral service is similar to other Christian faiths, but lasts only 15 or 30 minutes. The funeral usually takes place within a week after death. At the service, men wear a suit and tie, and women are expected to dress modestly, but neither needs a head covering. Flowers and food may be offered to the family before, during or after the service.
Services usually take place in the Kingdom Hall, the Jehovah’s Witnesses place of worship. There may or may not be an open casket. The Congregation Elder conducts the service and delivers a talk, which may be tape recorded. The talk will highlight the deceased person’s life, accomplishments in their ministry, whatever dying thoughts or expressions they may have left behind, and their hope that they had because of their faith in God and his son, Jesus. The purpose of the talk is to comfort the bereaved by explaining what the Bible says about death and the hope of a resurrection. Rather than being an overly mournful event, it is a time when family and friends can be reassured of the time when the Bible promises that, thanks to the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the dead will be raised, and they will see their loved one again.
Jehovah’s Witnesses may select to have either a burial or a cremation following the funeral services in the Kingdom Hall. At the graveside or crematorium chapel, the scriptures are referenced and a prayer is read.
