As the service continues, Fr Michael Canny asks for forgiveness for Martin McGuinness "should any stain of sin have come to him".  

And Rev Latimer gets a warm reception for breaking in to Irish.   

Rev David Latimer, of the First Derry Presbyterian Church, says: "Today we thank God for Martin McGuinness.

"At some point in future I'm looking forward... to praising God with him in Heaven."  

Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond, who is attending the funeral, said he found that what he had been told about the growing relationship between Mr McGuinness and former DUP leader Ian Paisley was an "underestimate".

"In private they were family actually, is what struck me more than anything else," he said.

Here's footage of former president Bill Clinton paying his respects to the McGuinness family. 

Rev Harold Good, a former Methodist Church president, said Mr McGuinness' life was rightly compared to a journey.

Image source, bbc

"Would that more of us were open to journeying in our own lives," he added. 

The grandchildren of Martin McGuinness were sombre as they read the bidding prayers.

Image source, bbc

Ciaran McCauley
BBC News NI

The city of Derry came to a standstill for the funeral.

Thousands lined the short route from Mr McGuinness' home in Westland Street to his parish church, Long Tower.

Onlookers crowded along pavements and stood on balconies of nearby flats as Mr McGuinness - his coffin draped in an Irish tricolour and accompanied by pipers - made his final journey.

Often they broke into applause as he passed through an area - the Bogside - that witnessed some of most infamous events of the Troubles, events that irrevocably shaped the former deputy first minister.

His legacy and impact - the duality of his shift from IRA commander to pivotal architect of the peace process - will be debated for decades. 

Regardless, this is the closest the city of Derry has ever come to hosting a state funeral. It's impact, and that of Mr McGuinness, will be felt for some time to come.

Here are mourners standing in prayer during the service.

Hundreds are gathered outside the church following the service.

For those having trouble streaming the funeral, you can watch it on YouTube by clicking the link below:

Martin McGuinness' grandchildren Tiarnan Hargan, Rossa Devine, Oisin Hargan and Ciana Devine are reading the bidding prayers.

Rev Harold Good and Rev David Latimer are also reading prayers of the faithful.  

"We come here to this church this afternoon because Martin was also a man of faith. He believed in God and his faith was important to him. 

"Prayer was very important to him. In Saint’s Paul’s second letter to Timothy, read in our second reading, the apostle said the time of his departure had come and he prepared to face the Lord, “the righteous judge”. 

"He had finished the race. He had kept the faith.

"Martin, too, has finished the race. He, too, kept the faith. He, too, has come face to face with the righteous judge who judges all fairly."

"Martin realised that the time for peace had come and he pursued the peace process with relentless energy for the rest of his days, until illness finally struck him down. 

On the course of that journey he encountered many obstacles but he remained resolute. In conversation he continually repeated that there was no other way, we had to continually work for the building of peace and a better future for all. He never became disheartened despite the many setbacks."

"The word 'journey' has been used by many people in recent days to describe his transition from man of war to man of peace. 

"The word 'journey' is also used frequently to describe the believer as he or she lives life on the way to union with God. 

"By any standards, Martin McGuinness was a remarkable man and his life was a remarkable journey."

"I have had many conversations with Martin down through the years and he knew only too well how many people struggled with his IRA past. 

"Republicans were not blameless and many people right across the community find it difficult to forgive and impossible to forget."

"He was the Sinn Féin leader who first shared power, then became friends with the late Dr Ian Paisley; he was the IRA commander who became a mainstay of the peace process."

"He was a man of simple tastes who ascended to the political summit. 

"He visited the White House, Downing Street and Windsor Castle, but only ever felt at home in his beloved Bogside, returning to his wife and family at every opportunity."

"There are people in this church today whose presence would have been unthinkable only a generation ago," says Fr Michael.

"They have forged working relationships with Martin McGuinness; they have built friendships with Martin McGuinness; they have occupied Stormont's benches alongside Martin McGuinness. Some have even sat in government with Martin McGuinness.

"The presence of those political rivals and opponents who have come to pay their respects is the most eloquent testimony to the memory of Martin McGuinness."

Fr Michael Canny is remembering Mr McGuinness in his homily:

"A man who came to be a widely respected leader of this community, a man who has been acknowledged in recent days as a man who spent recent years moving this community towards peace."