This very practical resource offers a well-informed guide to an aspect of ministry that every single priest or minister will encounter. It is one of the most difficult tasks, yet many embark on it with very little theological or practical training.

They will encounter a wide range of beliefs about death and the afterlife in today's secular society, such as can be seen in the death notices of local newspapers - grandma goes to sleep, is reunited with grandpa, becomes an angel or a star in heaven. They need a resource that equips them to deal sensitively and wisely with the variety of demands that will be made of them in the planning and conduct of funerals and in helping the bereaved to understand that resurrection is God's response to death's terrible finality.