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.
Jonathan Calvillo
To examine how hip-hop can be a resource for building spiritual community among Latinx diaspora by modeling how to integrate experiences of race, social engagement, and spiritual support in ministry with youth.
To invite worshipers into the depth and richness of God’s promises by weaving liturgy with the arts through collaborations with local artists for Advent, Lenten, Holy Week, and Pentecost services and through the development and dissemination of artistically inspired service plans.
To discern the theological distinctiveness and ethnocultural diversity of the church’s music by providing tools to evaluate CCLI Top 100 praise music from an Anabaptist theological perspective.
To create musical settings with local rhythms for the liturgical calendar to provide a more contextualized worship experience attuned to the Puerto Rican culture and folklore.
To strengthen those who lead worship by deepening their unity with one another while cultivating skills in planning and leading worship that integrates cultural expressions with the narrative of God’s story.
To engage with science in worship by piloting worship "experiments" in five partner churches involving interviews with worship leaders and scientists and the creation of new worship resources.
Mischa Willett
To foster greater appreciation for the diverse ways Christianity has shaped human creativity and to explore ways in which Christian literary genres have influenced the spiritual lives of Christian communities through an analysis of hymnody, devotionals, spiritual autobiography, sermons, allegory, and more.
To deepen scriptural reflection and to connect with the community by creating films for use in public worship that feature creative storytelling and dialogue on contemporary issues.
Ruth Elaine Labeth
To study the composition of scripture-based songs in Creole churches in Guadeloupe to help worship leaders and pastors envision culturally contextualized worship.
Demetrius K. Williams
To explore the cross of Christ in African American Christian experience as motivation for piety, political engagement, and social protest by researching spirituals, narratives, sermons, and other resources that highlight the importance of the cross of Christ for notions of freedom and the unity of humanity in the church's public witness.
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.
