1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 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 deeply form worshipers through the structure of the liturgy by collaboratively writing songs for the elements of the liturgy.
Lee Hardy
To study the connection between congregations' worship and mission activities, focusing on church-supported affordable housing in gentrifying urban neighborhoods.
To integrate engagement with God through the arts into worship by cultivating a community of artists who will serve in a variety of churches.
To enable the full, conscious, active participation of online worshipers by developing community among those worshiping online and in-person.
To strengthen and deepen worshipers’ experience of God by engaging the Psalms through prayer, study, contemplation, service and the arts.
To invite people into the biblical story in worship and to broaden their vocabulary for interacting with God using visual art as a focal point.
Carol Penner
To research Anabaptist worship materials and curate a centralized online site to make historical and contemporary Mennonite resources available for all to use.
Martin Spence
To investigate the history of nationalism in American evangelical worship practices, working with congregational leaders to discern ways to disentangle Christian worship and nationalism.
To use the arts to explore every aspect of worship to invite all people into the presence of the beauty, majesty, mystery, and holiness of the triune God.
To develop long-term habits of spiritual formation through corporate worship in students preparing for cross-cultural service, focusing on the arts and Biblical literacy.
To promote deeper participation in worship by exploring the unique musical contributions of African-American Catholic parishes.
Andrew Hofer, O.P.
To study seven early Christian preachers who model various aspects of "incarnational" preaching and produce a resource encouraging preachers to integrate public speech with all of life.
