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.
To cultivate an environment that will empower students to explore and discover authentic forms of liturgical expression and sacred worship through visits to other worshiping communities, workshops, retreats, and mentors who train students in various aspects of leading worship.
To teach children the structure of worship, develop their skills for leading various aspects of worship, provide them with experiences of various worship-related arts, and work with them to prepare worship services through Summer Worship, Arts, and Music Camps.
To develop a 28-day curriculum to teach and examine habits of adoration, confession and assurance, thanksgiving, and supplication in worship planning and preaching, prayer services, Sunday School lessons for all ages, Wednesday evening history lessons on a historical or contemporary person who exemplifies a specific habit, small group lessons, and personal or family devotions.
To plan and implement an eight week series on Vertical Habits for both a traditional and a contemporary service, with special attention to original drama, dance, slide presentations, music, fine arts, and short original films.
To review and evaluate the Book of Ritual, a current denominational resource for worship, that will lead to revisions of content, language, theology and rubrics so that the resource will more accurately reflect the theological heritage of the Christian Methodist Episcopal Church (CMEC), promote deeper understanding of, and meaning in, rituals, and include materials that will speak to the diversity of musical and liturgical concerns of the cultures and demographics within the CMEC.
To help participants learn about Vertical Habits in Sunday worship and carry them into daily life through an eight-part sermon series and multi-sensory worship which will include congregational art and multimedia components, a series of articles by church leaders, and the development of an online web log of daily devotions which includes artwork of children.
To create a series of worship services through dialogue with the Lenten planning team and an ecumenical/ interfaith clergy gathering for the season of Lent in order to develop worship habits through visual arts, dramas, sermons, printed home study materials, and a community blog.
To develop a five-part series on worship basics that is accompanied by small group discussion guides, children and youth curriculum, web resources, visual arts and drama.
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.
