1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 2024 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
CICW has awarded Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants for over 20 years to teacher-scholars and worshiping communities in 45+ states and provinces and across 40+ denominations and traditions—including Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Pentecostal, non-denominational, and other Protestant communities.
While worship styles and practices vary greatly across these traditions, the grant projects typically explore at least one of CICW’s ten core convictions related to worship. Explore the hundreds of projects we’ve funded across both streams of the program.
To prepare emerging pastors with contemporary preaching skills by engaging in a leadership development curriculum that uses retiring pastors as mentors.
To promote appreciation for the diversity of gifts in the congregation and empower worshipers to live out their faith within and beyond the walls of the church by introducing visual arts, liturgical dance, and a choral program within worship services.
To help small congregations cultivate the practice of identifying and witnessing to God’s work in their communities by training pastors and church leaders in the practice of narrative worship.
Marcia Clarke
To equip pastors and worship leaders to guide congregations in theologically grounded, Spirit-informed worship experiences through promoting critical scholarly reflection on Pentecostal/Charismatic worship and collaboration between pastor-practioners and scholars.
Julie Canlis
To foster deep experiences of living in Christ among Christian worshipers through an exploration of how the early church formed the liturgical calendar.
To study and practice blessing one another and the wider community by emphasizing the theology of blessing in worship and by practicing embodied blessing of others in outdoor venues.
To deepen worshipers' experience of the beauty and majesty of God in this church's unique space by engaging with the stories of the art glass windows lining the worship space.
Becca Whitla
To equip the Canadian church to use congregational song to further reconciliation between settlers and Indigenous peoples and to address questions relevant to the Canadian context through a conference and the development of shareable resources.
To welcome, represent, and empower people of color and young adults in liturgical and musical leadership by expanding celebrations of nine major feasts and fasts with diverse musical expression and development of thematic seasonal worship series with reflection guides.
To promote active intergenerational participation in worship by developing and promoting a homiletical method that encourages wondering, storytelling, and godly play.
To create an expression of worship that increases authenticity, reduces barriers, and provides diverse forms of music and speech by engaging in interviews, focus groups, and team studies that expand theological and aesthetic understanding of worship.
To encourage dance as a form of prayer and sacred art in worship through the development of collaborative cross-cultural workshops, meditative performances, and education materials.
