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 break down barriers to full participation in worship by identifying the ways people may be prevented from feeling welcomed or included and creating new practices that welcome all.
To develop a program that will assist churches in becoming physically, culturally, and spiritually accessible to people with disabilities, in order to create worshiping communities that honor the gifts and full participation of each person.
To develop intentional worship models for military congregations that remove barriers to those who are experiencing PTSD and to facilitate connection through prayer.
To facilitate the full participation in worship of persons with dementia by engaging with experts in inclusive worship in order to provide all worshipers with increased spiritual transformation and social connectedness.
To implement outdoor worship services designed to extend a ministry of hospitality to the community.
To explore practices of worship that facilitate engagement across generations, particularly focused on breaking down barriers that keep the unaffiliated from engaging the church.
Erik Carter
To explore essential dimensions of accessible worship and identify promising pathways for renewing worship practices which welcome the full participation of people across the spectrum of ability and disability.
To use Vertical Habits to disciple young adults with developmental disabilities, and to help churches break down barriers to the full, conscious, active participation of those young adults in worship.
To promote healing through trauma-informed worship that connects worshipers with the story of God’s actions in the past and present as a source of hope for God’s continued actions in the future.
To learn about inclusive worship in order to craft creative liturgies that allow for the full, conscious, active participation of all members of the community.
To cultivate deep hospitality that allows students from diverse backgrounds to feel at home and be formed in worship by a common vocabulary and common values around spiritual formation and chapel services.
To educate and inspire church leaders to teach, preach, and lead liturgies that welcome the participation of people of all abilities.
