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 offer worship workshops for member of the congregation, train worship leaders, and identify and create new expressions of worship in multicultural, urban ministry through partnership with neighboring congregations.
To create a worship series on praise, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication that explores what each means, how to incorporate each into corporate worship, and how to develop each outside of corporate worship as regular parts of life through the use of video art, drama, messages, testimonies, music, visual arts, journals, and email.
To provide liturgical formation for musicians and others responsible for liturgical preparation to aid them in choosing appropriate liturgical music through participation in a Summer Camp.
To incorporate people of all ages and skills in planning and implementing a series on developing worship habits in daily life with particular attention to visual arts, children’s messages, family activities, and sign language to communicate these ideas through kinetic involvement.
To develop liturgy and multicultural worship so as to portray the congregation’s unity in a diverse community by considering language, dance, media, visual art, music, attitude, understanding, practice, leadership, and congregational participation.
To equip area church choirs to lead worship spiritually and musically within their respective churches through a year-long process that will include a weekend of workshops, rehearsals, and worship.
To create new, engaging and enduring habits of worship through a study of visual arts in worship with an emphasis on communion, baptism and the unity of believers.
To achieve a clearer and deeper understanding of the aim, purpose, and components of worship services by developing worship leadership within the congregation and introducing the congregation to new music, forms of prayers, and liturgy.
To train Asian and Anglo Americans of all ages to better plan, lead, and participate in a newly established multicultural, multigenerational worship service through discussion groups, liturgical art, retreats, and a conference.
To nurture active, intergenerational corporate worship by training parents, grandparents and church school leaders and providing resources for them to promote the daily worship of God in children’s lives in the context of the liturgical year.
To train and encourage clergy and lay leaders in African-American churches by offering a four-day conference on worship and a pre-conference study related to worship for those who will be attending the conference.
To create litanies, choral readings, and scripture dramas to facilitate the dramatic nature of worship through the collaboration of lay theologians and artists of all ages within the congregation.
