Church prepares for Michael Brown funeral

(CNN) – The Friendly Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Ferguson, Missouri, is preparing for a very big day. Come Monday, the seats will be full of mourners to remember Michael Brown.

The church's special events manager Denise Makey is busy preparing for the largest event the congregation has ever seen, making room for more than 5,000 people.

"It's attracting a lot of attention, but at the end of the day, these parents are burying their son. And at the end of the day, that changes your perspective. They need to mourn their son and remember him, and our job is to support them and be there for them," Makey said.

The church, led by Rev. Michael Jones, is expecting a huge crowd for the service, which will be public at the request of the Brown family. The details of the program are still being worked out, but the eulogy will be delivered by Rev. Al Sharpton, who has been active in the political action surrounding Brown's death.

Everyone is hoping that the sometimes violent scenes that have played out in the streets of Ferguson for the past two weeks will not be repeated, despite the large crowds and substantial security presence planned for the funeral.

"The family does not expect any type of violence," said attorney Anthony Gray, co-counsel for the Brown family. "There may be people that are demonstrating and supporting the family, you know, you kind of expect that, but the kind of unrest that involves the police, they do not expect to see that at all."

It will be, the church is hoping, a time to remember the 18 years Michael Brown spent on this earth.

"He was special to me. He was ours. He was peaceful. He was humble,"  said Lesley McSpadden, Micheal's mother. "And I'm always going to love him just how he was."

The church's reverend is "in prayer and preparation, looking to God for the right words of comfort," said Makey.

The right words of comfort for a family – and a community – still in so much pain.

CNN's Kim Berryman contributed to this report.