1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 2025 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.
Lester Ruth
To produce an anthology of curated primary sources to provide easier access to key documents related to the historical development of contemporary praise and worship music.
To promote participation and leadership within Christian communities by diverse students who struggle to see themselves in the Christian story.
HyeRan Kim-Cragg and Mona Tokarek LaFosse
To train international graduate students experiencing the trauma of migration and immigration in practices of trauma-informed worship leading so they can implement the practices in their worshiping communities.
To address the spiritual needs of second-generation Ethiopian American children and youth in a culturally sensitive way through worship, preaching, and teaching that includes them in the life and leadership of the church.
To equip lay leaders by hosting workshops that broaden understanding of what preaching can be in an intergenerational and hybrid worship context in order to expand leaders’ repertoire of meaningful ways of engaging with scripture to facilitate spiritual growth.
To meet the increased demands on worship and arts leaders of in-person and online services through creating opportunities for mentorship, rotational leadership, and skill development.
To help people rest and reflect more deeply in God by creating opportunities for communal contemplation of God’s love and presence in the world through engagement with nature and the creative arts.
To deepen our congregation's appreciation for the grand narrative of God’s saving work by studying eight major acts of God in the Bible and collectively creating artwork that depicts the Bible’s overarching story.
To deepen connections between worshipers and to encourage a practice of recognizing the sacred in all of life by centering corporate worship and home groups on practices of shared attention, communal creation, and joyful expression.
To deepen scriptural engagement and foster intergenerational worship by inviting congregation members of all ages to share their personal faith stories through various storytelling methods.
To foster spiritual and theological depth in worship leaders of all ages through educational opportunities and celebrating the gifts participants are developing.
To commission worshipers for the ministry of daily life through creating a testimony installation that bears witness to the congregation's ministry of work in the world and through offering spiritual training for vocational leaders.