Planting a Graveyard: Seven Reasons Churches Should Recover an Ancient Practice

We live in a peculiar time in human history. In one sense, the Western world—particularly America—has sought to remove death from the landscape of everyday life. What was once understood as an inevitable reality has been reduced to a medical problem. Our cultural narratives habitually emphasize youth and beauty, avoiding the realities of aging and death. At the same time, a vast portion of Americans now die in commercial institutions rather than in their family homes.^[1] Furthermore, a majority of westerners are choosing cremation over burial, erasing from the landscape burial stones that bear testimony to the universal reality of death.

1. Frank J. Whittington, “Denying and Defying Death: The Culture of Dying in 21st Century America,” The Gerontologist 51 (2011): 571.

In another sense, however, a culture of death is advancing in plain sight. Over the past two decades, we have witnessed an unprecedented rise in abortion and euthanasia. In America, chemical abortions are sky-rocketing, while in Canada, the death toll for self-selected suicide continues to rise.^[2] As Richard Weaver once put it, ideas have consequences, and with secularism engulfing the West, it is not surprising that killing the unborn and the infirm (or just the mentally ill) is a natural consequence of exiling God from culture. In the public square, demands for individual freedom are offered to defend the legal taking of life, but in reality such legality is morally evil. And when it comes to death itself, the ease with which men and women shed blood proves the biblical axiom: the wages of sin is death (Rom. 6:23)!

2. Since 2020 Chemical abortions have accounted for more than 50% of total abortions in US; In Canada, it has been reported that one out of every twenty deaths is now a medically assisted suicide.

This cultural shift is also evident in how we approach the very act of dying. According to one Gallup poll, most Americans find no moral quandary with the use of doctor-assisted suicide as the means for ending their lives. In fact, for a growing number of people it is thought to be the preferred method of dying. It seems then, in the wake of this movement of human liberation, that what is truly evil is being celebrated as good (Isa. 5:20). And this brings us back to the church, its teachings about death, and even more its practices related to death.

In what follows, we are going to make the case that churches who have the opportunity should renew a commitment to planting cemeteries. The word “planting” is intentional, because of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. As he argues for the reality of resurrection and the good news that Christ will raise the dead, he uses seed imagery.

And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. . . So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. (1 Cor. 15:37–38, 42–44)

Historically, Christians have seen burial as a testimony to their Christian hope of resurrection.^[3] Paul’s view of the body as a seed provides a strong theological rationale for this practice; and as we will argue below, graveyards are a visible testimony of God’s judgment on sinners and the need to reckon with death before it is too late. While secular man may want to ignore death, the Christian practice of burial proclaims its reality and the hope of resurrection.

3. As N.T. Wright observes about a third century Christian, Minucius Felix, and his views on Christian burial: “though Christians are not afraid of other forms of disposal of the body, such as burning, they prefer to follow ‘the ancient and better custom of burying in the earth.’ He, like many others, offers analogies from creation: in this case, sunrise and sunset, flowers dying and reviving, seeds rotting and so flourishing.” N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003), 509.

Indeed, while pagan religions often burned dead bodies on the funeral pyre, God’s people, from the very beginning, have marked graves with burial sites (Gen. 35:17–20) and memorial stones (Gen. 35:20). Certainly, burial is not only practiced by Christians, but cemeteries are not accidental features of one’s worldview. Instead, they bear witness to what a community really believes about God, his salvation, and the age to come. Thus, the growing trend of churches that are planted without graveyards is more than a cultural phenomenon; it is evidence that churches are more like the world than they may admit.

In fact, even among churches that are Reformed in their theology and healthy in their ecclesiology, it bears asking: how many are strong in their practices of death and resurrection? For truly, in an age doing all it can to escape death, the separation of church and burial ground is no small thing.^[4] In this essay, it is our intention to make the case for churches to make graveyards great again. For sake of space, we will assume that burial is the traditional way that Christians have buried the dead. If you have questions about that, please look at Garrett Wishall’s essay, “Christ is Lord Over Death: A Case for Burial Over Cremation.”

4. In this essay, cemetery will be used to reference a burial ground unaffiliated with a church, while graveyard is related to a burial ground adjacent to or maintained by a church.

In what follows here, we will make a seven-point argument for churches to plant a graveyard. Along the way, we will mix biblical, theological, historical, and practical reasons for that argument. And Lord willing, we might spur on pastors to lead their churches to consider this subject and/or to pursue its application. Our aim is not to shame any church which does not have a church graveyard—at present, neither of our churches have a graveyard. Rather, we want to start a discussion that is far too absent today. Lord willing, we can show you why Christian churches should make the effort to invest space, money, and (yes) inconvenience to maintaining a burial ground adjacent to the church—or, in the case of some urban churches, in a dedicated location near the church.

Seven Reasons to Plant a Church Graveyard

1. Church graveyards bear witness to the reality of death.

As noted above, our culture does everything it can to avoid looking at death. Even as Christians, we are often uncomfortable with discussing the topic, let alone facing the reality. Thus, the testimony to death is not something that is first and foremost for outsiders. It is for all of us. Just as Genesis 5 rings with the refrain, “And he died,” a landscape—urban or rural—that is dotted with graveyards and cemeteries helps us see death all around us.

Yes, like a communion wine stain on the front pew at church, it is possible to become blind to places where the dead are buried. I (David) drive past two cemeteries and three graveyards on the way to my church, and I didn’t start thinking about them until I began thinking about this subject more broadly. Yet, when my eyes were opened to death planted all around me, there they were: five testimonies written in stone and soil that remind me every day of death.

While spiritual blindness afflicts us in small and large ways, it is far worse to give up on making places to bury the dead, simply because we think people do not remember. Indeed, for everyone who chooses to ignore death, there are others who remember and who need to remember. This is especially true when churches plant graveyards, and then talk about them. “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).

2. Church graveyards can be formative for pastors and churches.

Clearly, the goal of a church graveyard is not just to “talk about it,” but not talking about it is worse. We suspect the absence of speech about death, burial, and resurrection, along with the failure to remember the saints of old is caused, if only in part, by a separation between the body of Christ that assembles in faith and the departed saints who were buried in hope. Oddly enough, churches today are built by a parade of people passing through them. Or maybe that’s just my (David’s) church, situated just outside Washington, D.C., where military families come –and go with endless rapidity. Either way, modern evangelicals are only lightly connected to church history, and this results in a kind of Christianity that is often rootless and displaced.

In such thoroughfares, it is tempting to go with the flow and let the parade happen. But we want to argue for a different approach.  Instead of surrendering to a culture where transience is expected, why not urge them to resist the trend and plant their lives in a transient area? And what is one way to help root an individual, a family, or a church in one place? By planting a graveyard.

In a word, churches with graveyards can reform the way moderns see the world, while also encouraging members to stop and smell the dead. After all, in less than 100 years, every church member will have moved one final time—from earth to (Lord willing) heaven. And lest we think that “smelling the dead” is uncouth or unedifying, consider these words from Psalm 116:15, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.” Truly, death is not precious, but when a member of Christ’s body dies and rises to glory, it is. Christians who are mindlessly running the race on earth need to be reminded that death is coming, and church graveyards can provide a regular reminder of that truth, along with the promise of resurrection life, too.

3. Church graveyards are testimonies of hope in the resurrection.

The author of Hebrews makes an interesting observation regarding the Old Testament patriarchs. He writes, “These all died in faith…” (Heb 11:13). But, how do we know that? It is because each of them was buried as a testimony to their faith in God’s promises. Donald Howard, in his helpful pamphlet Burial or Cremation, cites Calvin on this point: “While they [the patriarchs] themselves were silent… the sepulchre cried aloud, that death formed no obstacle to their entering on the possession of it [God’s promise of the land].”^[5] Their burial testified to the hope that, in the end, their covenant-keeping God would raise them up. This same resurrection hope has prompted the church for centuries to plant cemeteries, and it is why the church today should do the same.

5. Donald Howard, Burial or Cremation: Does it Matter? (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2012), 6.

On the last day, when Christ returns, the new creation will be consummated. All those who have died in Christ will rise to receive their glorified, physical body (1 Cor 15:42–45). And lest we think of this resurrection independent of the world in which we live, we should consider the fact that we will rise from the grave with others by our side. It ought to be considered one of the greatest possible joys, and future hopes, for Christians to be woken up on that day with their fellow church members who are buried, side by side, next to the church.

While such a thought is not something we need to consider every day, it is something that should not be forgotten. Just as the believers in Jerusalem remembered where David was buried (Acts 2:29), so we should not forget those who have gone before us. Likewise, we should not ignore the fact that one day soon, we will be laid to rest, too. In practice, when rightly conceived, the arrival at church with a graveyard next to the church building recalls this glorious assembly of the church triumphant that watches over the church militant (cf. Heb. 12:1–2).

When rightly stewarded, church graveyards proclaim to us the realities of death and resurrection. They portend our joyful reunion with saints in glory. And in fact, when churches gather on earth to worship the God of heaven, the physical proximity of living saints to the departed even illustrates the glories of Zion.

4. Church graveyards illustrate the gathering of Zion.

You may agree that Christians should be buried, but why should they be buried together? In other words, why should churches who have available land dedicate property for a graveyard? Or, why should urban churches who don’t have available land consider acquiring a plot of ground together?

While it has historically been the church’s practice, we can find a clear biblical foundation for it in the book of Hebrews. In Hebrews 12 the author speaks of the Kingdom we’ve received in Christ. It is a view of the glories of Mount Zion, the Heavenly City, where the ascended Christ rules and reigns as our New Covenant King. And in the midst of this festal gathering we see the perfected spirits of our brothers and sisters worshiping Jesus (Heb. 12:22–24)! The author gives us this glimpse of heavenly reality to reinforce our own gatherings by saying, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire,” (Heb 12:28–29).

When we gather on Sundays, we are in some sense joining the festal gathering. While our brothers and sisters who have gone before us currently experience by sight and we only join by faith, we who gather on earth do actually join the heavenly assembly. On the Lord’s Day, the Lord walks through the lampstands on earth (Rev. 1:12–20), and he meets with his saints, as we meet with him. Though countless church attenders may be blind to this reality, our union with Christ creates a union with the believers who went before us. And this is something that a church graveyard fosters.

What a beautiful reality it would be, if we recognized each Sunday what we are doing when we bring our praises to God. We are not simply joining an earthly pep rally for Jesus. Rather, we are lifting our voices, so that Christ, who is now surrounded by the saints and angels, sits enthroned on our praise (Ps. 22:3). Truly, as we do that, we are testifying to the coming reality of our ascension to heaven and the hope of a final universal congregation worshiping around his throne. In this way, the church militant joins the church triumphant, and the church graveyard provides further insight and inspiration to this cosmic reality.

5. Church graveyards remind the church militant of the church triumphant.

One of Evangelicalism’s greatest weaknesses is that we have become largely untethered to the saints that have come before us. Certainly, this is true in our lack of knowledge surrounding global church history, but it is also true in terms of our local context. When was your church founded? Where did they originally meet? What prompted them to begin meeting? Who were those first members? What sort of testimony has the church had to the community through the years? This is not to say every church member must become an historian, but we should have some understanding of the history that connects us to the saints of yesteryear. The Holy Spirit has been active long before our current generation, and we do ourselves a disservice by neglecting to learn of His work in the lives of the past.

This is why many churches no longer feel the need to plant graveyards. The victorious saints often serve more as a vague idea than as a tangible cloud of witnesses inspiring our faith. However, if they were buried on church grounds, their testimony of faith, week after week, would—make that, should!—remind us of their place in Christ’s church, as well as our own. Their witness should encourage our perseverance and help us begin to grasp, in part, how Christ has united us with them in himself.

6. Church graveyards bear testimony to the presence of Christ’s church in a given land.

The fourth-century church historian, Eusebius, recounts government antagonism, which would have prevented the early church from burying their dead brethren, because of the growing witness and influence of this practice on Roman society.^[6] But, by the time Constantine established Christianity as a legal religion in the Roman Empire (313 AD), the practice of cremation had all but evaporated and was eventually banned in the late 300s AD.^[7] What brought about this radical change? It was the spread of the gospel. In fact, Francis Schaeffer has noted that the expansion of Christ’s church can be traced through Rome by the marked decline of cremation and the normalizing of Christian burial. He writes, “Gradually Christianity came to Roman Avenches [a location in modern day Switzerland]. We know this by studying the cemetery of that time—the Romans burned their dead, the Christians buried theirs.”^[8]

This same witness seemed to spread in every place that the church went. It is why even today, you can drive through some of the most rural parts of the US and still find Christian cemeteries. Throughout church history these plots of land have been signposts of the presence of Christ’s people. Truly, if our brothers and sisters in the faith took burial so seriously, we should at least pause to consider why we have thought so little about it.

Have we undervalued the hope of resurrection? Are our hearts so focused on this world that we give little thought to the testimony of a life that ends in faith? Have we begun to idolize creation by adopting a view where cremation is considered more environmentally sound than burial?^[9] Truly, Scripture and the Spirit’s work through the centuries should guide us to a better way. Whether we think about it or not, the church’s witness is not simply accomplished by going door-to-door and sharing the good news. The church’s witness is also established in institutions that create material testimonies to the realities of Christ.

9. N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church (New York: HarperOne, 2008), 24, makes a compelling point on this matter. While not defining cremation as heretical, he is correct to say that “cremation tends, classically, to belong with a Hindu or Buddhist theology, and at a low-grade and popular level . . . that is the direction toward which our culture is rapidly moving. When people ask for their ashes to be scattered on a favorite hillside or in a well-loved river or along a shoreline, we can sympathize with the feeling . . . But the underlying implication, of a desire simply to be merged back into the created world, without any affirmation of a future life of new embodiment, flies in the face of classic Christian Theology.”

Sadly, for reasons that go beyond the scope of this essay, Christians think little of building institutions, let alone planting graveyards. But if we are called to pass down our faith to the next generation and to the generations beyond that (cf. Ps. 78:5–8; Ps. 128:6), then we need to think more than the best way to reach the world as fast as we can. We need to let long view inform our thinking, and from the annals of church history, and the teaching about burial in the Bible, one of the best ways to do that is to invest in a church graveyard.

7. Church graveyards offer church members a place of rest.

Finally, one more reason that churches should invest in church graveyards is the cost associated with burial and the transience of our day. Indeed, while the hyper-mobile trends of the modern world may vitiate a person’s desire to invest in a building or a plot of ground that will be passed on to others, we think that giving towards a church graveyard is actually one of the best ways to help rootless Christians put down roots. In a straw poll on X, eighty-two percent of Christians (135 of 165 polled) under fifty said they “had no plan or place for burial.”

As a pastor, I (David) have had multiple occasions to bury men and women who did not, when the Lord called them home, have a place to be buried. Unlike previous generations that were born, lived, and died in the same locale, most moderns live in multiple places over the course of their lives. And while they may designate a place as home—e.g., the place they grew up, have grandparents, etc.—that place may be very far away when the end of life comes. There are, of course, counter-examples to this point, and many are now trying to put down roots. But the problem remains, and it is one that churches should not ignore. For when the church member dies thousands of miles from “home,” the church must take on the burden.

In such cases, pastors are left to care for helpless families during a time of all-consuming loss, and as those families scramble to make funeral arrangements, many are also tasked with making an immediate decision about a very permanent reality—the burial of a loved one! In such a context, cremation becomes increasingly acceptable. Even for Christians who know that burial is a biblical pattern, the rising cost of funerals, caskets, and burial plots, easily invites a grieving family to cremate a loved one. Equally, they might choose to bury a loved one in a place that has little connection to the earthly life of the deceased.

In response to all of these matters, churches can step up and help. For reasons of location and cost, a church with a graveyard provides church members with a place to bury the dead. For families that are transient this would provide a place for burial, when no other place makes sense. Likewise, for those who are seeking cremation for the purpose of cost alone, a church with a graveyard could help defray the cost for that family. Churches often step in to help with the cost of a funeral, and this would be an extension of that. However, it would also carry out all of the other biblical and even evangelistic reasons mentioned above.

Understandably, such an investment in a graveyard could be cost prohibitive for a church. But that shouldn’t mean that the goal is unattainable. It just means that a longer runway may be needed.

Likewise, there are many churches that do not currently have the space to plant a graveyard. Yet, for those who do have land, or those who would seek to find land, the addition of a graveyard is not simply an extra luxury for the church—something akin to adding a coffee bar or a picnic area. Rather, planting a graveyard really is a need that members will have, and one that churches will have to attend. And lest the church surrender the role of caring for the dead to those who deny the God who can raise the dead, churches should make it a growing priority to plant graveyards.

A Final Word from a Pennsylvania Graveyard

Last year, in the Laurel Highlands of central Pennsylvania I (David) stopped at a church graveyard (see the above picture). The dates on the grave markers go back to the 1800s and continue to the present. Because I had some time, I walked through the lines of burial stones and pondered the lives of those who were buried there.

As I strolled I noticed a number of common names, families that had lived, worshiped, and died together in that place. I also observed a number of children’s markers resting next to their parents. And it is one of these that brings all of the arguments here together.

What I observed was the headstone of a child who perished at no more than a few days old. He was laid to rest next to her mother, who was buried some sixty years later. Think of it, every Sunday that mother walked past that place, as a reminder of her child’s loss and her heavenly father’s gain. My mind wandered as I thought about it and imagined how the bitter proximity of death would make resurrection Sundays—indeed all Lord’s Day—sweeter. Sure, not all Sundays would be the same, and I am probably painting too saccharine a picture of the family. But such a sanctified imagination is what the Lord uses to increase our longing for the kingdom of heaven.

Truly, the glory of heaven is Jesus Christ and not simply the reunion of loved ones. But let us not make the mistake of thinking that worship at Mount Zion is purely individualistic, as if the saints are cordoned off from one another. No, far better, the thanksgiving given to Christ is amplified by the communion of the saints who stand around his throne. And knowing that, I imagined what Christian hope might have grown in the heart of that mother who longed to see Jesus and her child.

We suppose that hope could be fostered independent of a church graveyard. But there is something remarkably precious about the way a grieving mother buries her child in the ground with hope that the God she worships in that place would one day raise the dead. For sixty years she labored, had other children (some of whom were buried later), remained faithful to her husband (buried next to her), and waited for the day when faith would turn to sight.

What she couldn’t know was that she would outlive her baby by sixty years, but what she could know (as aided by the church graveyard) was to remember the specter of death and the only hope of its defeat—the death of Christ, his third day resurrection, and the coming day when he would make all things new. This is our Christian hope. And in a day, when death is both forgotten and rejected, church graveyards play a vital role in remembering the dead and proclaiming resurrection hope to the living. For that reason, and for all those outlined above, let us make church graveyards great again. And let us proclaim the hope of resurrection to all who will listen—to the church and to everyone else!