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 develop more inclusive worship practices by first learning about the needs and desires ofthose often excluded from worship and the obstacles they often face, and to then initiate new worship practices.
To encourage greater accessibility and inclusivity in worship through providing support, education, and resources for families and church leaders affected by disability.
To increase disability awareness and belonging in partner churches by providing resources and strategies for promoting the welcome and inclusion of Christians of all abilities in worshiping communities.
To engage in liturgies and educational roundtables that facilitate inclusive attitudes and practices that welcome those who have been historically marginalized.
Amanda Howard
To identify challenges faced by individuals with sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) during worship services, to investigate strategies for self-regulation, and to evaluate support programs offered by worshiping communities, in order to create a resource guide for worshiping communities to better include people with SPS during religious services.
To create an expression of worship that increases authenticity, reduces barriers, and provides diverse forms of music and speech by engaging in interviews, focus groups, and team studies that expand theological and aesthetic understanding of worship.
To deepen a sense of belonging for all members of an increasingly diverse worshiping community by creating trauma-informed, accessible, and contextual music and worship practices and by developing diverse and often marginalized leaders.
To facilitate the active participation in worship of children with hearing impairment by engaging them in expressive dance.
To enhance and build upon the nontraditional Jazz Vespers service to offer innovative and radical welcome for in-person and virtual attendees to experience healing and hope.
To promote a community that moves from inclusion to belonging for congregants with intellectual disabilities and their families by reducing barriers to full participation and forming the congregation to actively welcome everyone made in God’s image.
To learn about worship symbolism and accessibility concerns that hinder welcoming all worshipers through engaging in learning groups that explore relevant resources and analyze other worship spaces.
Erin Raffety
To conduct interviews with persons living with chronic illness and Long COVID, and to analyze the convergence of cultural, theological, and disability-related perspectives among such persons in order to increase their full, conscious, active participation in worship.
