Sun streamed through the stained glass of Trinity Church of God in Christ on a day when 18-year-old Kia Johnson should have been eagerly awaiting the imminent birth of her son.

Instead, 150 people gathered to grieve, as pastors strove to explain how a young woman who loved Jesus could have been killed by someone who slashed her open and stole her baby.

They promised that Ms. Johnson was in heaven, and called on everyone to bring healing by forgiving Andrea Curry-Demus, 38, the woman charged with her July 18 murder. Ms. Johnson's body was found in Ms. Curry-Demus' apartment after the older woman went to the hospital with a newborn, claiming to be its mother.

"She is with the king of kings. If you were to ask her to come back, [she would say] no, no, no, no. Through your tears, be ready to meet the Lord. You will see her again," said the Rev. Stanford Pratt, assistant pastor of Trinity.

No casket was present. Bouquets surrounded a table containing mementos of her life and a pink satin ribbon inscribed "Mommy." Women in white suits and nurse's caps stood ready to aid those for whom grief became unbearable.

Some family members had to be supported down the aisle. As a soloist sang "Because He lives, I can face tomorrow," her paternal grandmother, Ethel Deloach, collapsed. A dozen people surrounded her in prayer, while others extended their arms from the other side of the church, directing prayers her way. Several people carried her outside, where she left in an ambulance.

The Rev. Earl Jones, pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Elizabeth, said a horror such as Ms. Johnson's murder would wreak more destruction if people gave into hatred.

"Do you really want to be comforted? It begins with forgiveness," he said.

"I know right now that is the last thing on your minds ... But when that child grows up, he is going to need each and every one of you."

People testified about the loving person Ms. Johnson had been and how she had volunteered to help children and the homeless at the Salvation Army Corps where she had worshipped. The father of her baby, Terrell Barnes, was in Allegheny County Jail. When Ms. Johnson found herself in trouble, she turned to her uncle in Maryland, Kias Johnson, for whom she was named.

He offered his home to her while she finished school, attended college, built a career or joined the military, he said. He broke down, recalling that he had told her she "had a gift."

"Your gift is that everyone likes to be around you and talk to you," he recalled saying, assuring her that she would easily make friends in the virtually all-white school she would attend. But he confessed that he had failed to warn her about the negative side of her gift: that some people would want to be near her only to exploit her, and that she must discern true friends from false ones.

"Young generation, you be careful. Everyone is not your friend," he told the mourners.

Capt. Sean Barton, her pastor at the Salvation Army, also broke down as he spoke of last seeing her the Sunday before her death. She came forward at the altar call to say she would surrender every part of her life to Jesus, he said.

"She understood that she wasn't perfect. She had made a mess. Things weren't right. She came down and said 'I need to make it right and the only way I can make it right is if you make it right, Jesus,'" he said.

"Kia said that 'Jesus is my king.' She showed us. She is pointing the way," he said.

Afterward, her parents spoke briefly with reporters, thanking the community for support, and saying that her son was healthy.

"I'm just glad my daughter knew the Lord and she is now with Jesus," said her father, Eric Johnson Sr., of McKeesport. Both he and Ms. Johnson's mother, Darlene Lee of Washington, D.C., said they forgave her killer.

Ms. Curry-Demus had been scheduled to face a preliminary hearing today, but the hearing has been postponed to Aug. 22.

On Thursday, a judge determined that Ms. Curry-Demus is competent to stand trial, even though a psychiatrist from the Allegheny County Jail said she is "psychotically ill" and in need of hospitalization.

"I forgive her," Ms. Lee said yesterday. "If she hadn't taken the baby to the hospital, we would never have been able to find my daughter."