diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/AbstractMessageHandlerFactoryBean.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/AbstractMessageHandlerFactoryBean.java
index 59b635f0b8..9464692d9c 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/AbstractMessageHandlerFactoryBean.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/config/AbstractMessageHandlerFactoryBean.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactory;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.BeanFactoryAware;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.FactoryBean;
 import org.springframework.integration.core.MessageChannel;
+import org.springframework.integration.handler.AbstractMessageHandler;
 import org.springframework.integration.handler.AbstractReplyProducingMessageHandler;
 import org.springframework.integration.message.MessageHandler;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
@@ -74,15 +75,14 @@ public abstract class AbstractMessageHandlerFactoryBean implements FactoryBean,
 		if (this.handler == null) {
 			this.initializeHandler();
 			Assert.notNull(this.handler, "failed to create MessageHandler");
-			if (this.handler instanceof AbstractReplyProducingMessageHandler) {
-				AbstractReplyProducingMessageHandler abstractHandler = (AbstractReplyProducingMessageHandler) this.handler;
-				if (this.outputChannel != null) {
-					abstractHandler.setOutputChannel(this.outputChannel);
-				}
-				if (this.order != null) {
-					abstractHandler.setOrder(this.order.intValue());
-				}
-				abstractHandler.setBeanFactory(beanFactory);
+			if (this.handler instanceof AbstractReplyProducingMessageHandler && this.outputChannel != null) {
+				((AbstractReplyProducingMessageHandler) this.handler).setOutputChannel(this.outputChannel);
+			}
+			if (this.handler instanceof BeanFactoryAware) {
+				((BeanFactoryAware) this.handler).setBeanFactory(beanFactory);
+			}
+			if (this.handler instanceof AbstractMessageHandler && this.order != null) {
+				((AbstractMessageHandler) this.handler).setOrder(this.order.intValue());
 			}
 		}
 		return this.handler;
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/handler/MessageHandlerChain.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/handler/MessageHandlerChain.java
index 81ed6116d4..c108886c3c 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/handler/MessageHandlerChain.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/main/java/org/springframework/integration/handler/MessageHandlerChain.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2002-2008 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ import java.util.List;
 
 import org.springframework.beans.BeanWrapperImpl;
 import org.springframework.beans.PropertyAccessor;
+import org.springframework.core.Ordered;
 import org.springframework.integration.channel.DirectChannel;
 import org.springframework.integration.context.IntegrationObjectSupport;
 import org.springframework.integration.core.Message;
@@ -62,7 +63,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.Assert;
  * @author Mark Fisher
  * @author Iwein Fuld
  */
-public class MessageHandlerChain extends IntegrationObjectSupport implements MessageHandler {
+public class MessageHandlerChain extends IntegrationObjectSupport implements MessageHandler, Ordered {
 
 	private static final String OUTPUT_CHANNEL_PROPERTY = "outputChannel";
 
@@ -70,6 +71,8 @@ public class MessageHandlerChain extends IntegrationObjectSupport implements Mes
 
 	private volatile MessageChannel outputChannel;
 
+	private volatile int order = Ordered.LOWEST_PRECEDENCE;
+
 	private volatile boolean initialized;
 
 	private final Object initializationMonitor = new Object();
@@ -83,6 +86,14 @@ public class MessageHandlerChain extends IntegrationObjectSupport implements Mes
 		this.outputChannel = outputChannel;
 	}
 
+	public void setOrder(int order) {
+		this.order = order;
+	}
+
+	public int getOrder() {
+		return this.order;
+	}
+
 	public final void afterPropertiesSet() {
 		synchronized (this.initializationMonitor) {
 			if (!this.initialized) {
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/OrderedHandlersTests-context.xml b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/OrderedHandlersTests-context.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..99ff6778ae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/OrderedHandlersTests-context.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
+<beans:beans xmlns="http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration"
+	xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
+	xmlns:beans="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans"
+	xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/beans/spring-beans-2.5.xsd
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration
+			http://www.springframework.org/schema/integration/spring-integration-1.0.xsd">
+
+	<channel id="channel"/>
+
+	<bridge id="endpoint5" input-channel="cannel" order="5"/>
+
+	<header-enricher id="endpoint11" input-channel="channel" correlation-id="x" order="11"/>
+
+	<splitter id="endpoint1" ref="bean" method="handle" input-channel="channel" order="1"/> 
+
+	<object-to-string-transformer id="endpoint13" input-channel="channel" order="13"/>
+
+	<filter id="endpoint8" input-channel="channel" ref="bean" method="filter" order="8"/>
+
+	<resequencer id="endpoint10" input-channel="channel" order="10"/>
+
+	<chain id="endpoint6" input-channel="channel" order="6">
+		<service-activator ref="bean"/>
+	</chain>
+
+	<service-activator id="endpoint3" input-channel="channel" ref="bean" method="handle" order="3"/>
+
+	<payload-deserializing-transformer id="endpoint12" input-channel="channel" order="12"/>
+
+	<aggregator id="endpoint4" input-channel="channel" order="4"/>
+
+	<payload-serializing-transformer id="endpoint9" input-channel="channel" order="9"/>
+
+	<router id="endpoint7" input-channel="channel" ref="bean" method="handle" order="7"/>
+
+	<transformer id="endpoint2" input-channel="channel" ref="bean" order="2"/>
+
+	<beans:bean id="bean" class="org.springframework.integration.config.xml.OrderedHandlersTests$TestBean"/>
+
+</beans:beans>
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/OrderedHandlersTests.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/OrderedHandlersTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3bc5880f3c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/config/xml/OrderedHandlersTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2002-2009 the original author or authors.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.springframework.integration.config.xml;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+
+import org.junit.Test;
+import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
+
+import org.springframework.beans.DirectFieldAccessor;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.context.ApplicationContext;
+import org.springframework.core.Ordered;
+import org.springframework.test.context.ContextConfiguration;
+import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringJUnit4ClassRunner;
+
+/**
+ * @author Mark Fisher
+ * @since 1.0.3
+ */
+@RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class)
+@ContextConfiguration
+public class OrderedHandlersTests {
+
+	@Autowired
+	private ApplicationContext context;
+
+
+	@Test
+	public void verifyOrder() {
+		for (int i = 1; i < 14; i++) {
+			Object consumer = context.getBean("endpoint" + i);
+			Object handler = new DirectFieldAccessor(consumer).getPropertyValue("handler");
+			assertTrue(handler instanceof Ordered);
+			assertEquals(i, ((Ordered) handler).getOrder());
+		}
+	}
+
+
+	static class TestBean {
+
+		public Object handle(Object o) {
+			return o;
+		}
+
+		public boolean filter() {
+			return true;
+		}
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/dispatcher/OrderedAwareLinkedHashSetTests.java b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/dispatcher/OrderedAwareLinkedHashSetTests.java
index 5a6e647a0c..531c461aab 100644
--- a/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/dispatcher/OrderedAwareLinkedHashSetTests.java
+++ b/org.springframework.integration/src/test/java/org/springframework/integration/dispatcher/OrderedAwareLinkedHashSetTests.java
@@ -78,7 +78,6 @@ public class OrderedAwareLinkedHashSetTests {
 		setToTest.add(o9);
 		setToTest.add(o10);		
 		assertEquals(10, setToTest.size());
-		System.out.println(setToTest);
 		Object[] elements = setToTest.toArray();
 		assertEquals(o7, elements[0]);
 		assertEquals(o8, elements[1]);
@@ -118,7 +117,6 @@ public class OrderedAwareLinkedHashSetTests {
 		assertEquals(10, tempList.size());
 		OrderedAwareLinkedHashSet orderAwareSet = new OrderedAwareLinkedHashSet();
 		orderAwareSet.addAll(tempList);
-		System.out.println(orderAwareSet);
 		Object[] elements = orderAwareSet.toArray();
 		assertEquals(o7, elements[0]);
 		assertEquals(o8, elements[1]);