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 develop resources for the four parts of the Episcopal Eucharist service, four activity sessions for young people and a Vacation Bible School program for ages 6 through 12 around the Vertical Habits themes, focusing on how these themes are aspects of a healthy relationship with God.
To teach Vertical Habits through a series of seven worship services that will include creative elements focused on Scripture and a person in history who cultivated a specific Vertical Habit. The series will include take home materials that will help both adults and children practice the habit throughout the week.
To integrate the speech we offer to God in worship with our words and lifestyles outside of corporate worship, through teaching basic worship vocabulary of faith, building Christian community, and connecting people with each other and existing ministries within the congregation.
To engage congregants of different ages and different ethnicities/languages in worship preparation and celebration as one body through intentional, joint learning, reflecting, planning, and creating worship for September 11, Reformation Sunday, a service focusing on the communion of the saints and commemorating martyrs, and Pentecost.
To plan and create a Lenten series accompanied with a devotional resource,with particular attention to the relationship of worshipers to God and to the development of this relationship outside of worship.
To develop worship services that focus on our relationship with God with emphasis on youth involvement in planning and leading as well as worship team development, and to stimulate an awareness of the continual spiritual dialogue of daily life through three community spiritual formation projects.
To recruit and train a core of ecumenical colleagues for leadership of a Lenten catechetical study in their congregations that will culminate in an Easter Vigil service planned with the participation of the catechumens.
To develop, with student leadership, ten or more complete chapels focused on Vertical Habits that can be used or adapted for use in other schools, to create a team of students to develop visuals for worship, and to pursue a deeper understanding of the uniqueness of high school worship.
To provide workshops on music, ritual theory, visual arts, architecture, dance, drama, sacred text, and the importance of sacramentality with attention to Hispanic, Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and Euro-American perspectives to enrich worship on campus and in the surrounding community.
To invite more intentional practices of visual piety through a process that will include textual analysis, lectio divina, research and conversation, resulting in the creation of fourteen images of moments in the life of Christ which will be displayed throughout the campus and incorporated in worship and the production of corresponding devotionals.
To acquire knowledge about successful techniques for integrating multiply-challenged children into corporate worship, develop and implement a model for training clergy and lay leaders to welcome these children and their families, and help participating parents gain skills and confidence in exploring faith practices with their children.
To develop initiation programs for newcomers, including youth and children, which will include bilingual weekly communion, multicultural music and worship formation, and to partner with Hillsgrove United Methodist Church in multicultural worship celebrations and the exploration of justice and youth ministries.
