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.
Mount Aery Baptist Church (2015)
To strengthen the intercessory prayer of the congregation in worship through workshops, congregational dialogues, and individual and communal prayer times.
New Brighton Free Methodist Church
To articulate a shared theology of worship and understanding of the Lord's Supper in order to enrich worship participation and practices throughout the church year.
North Atlanta District of the AME Church
To provide workshops, retreats, and intergenerational worship experiences for pastors and worship leaders in order to transform the public worship of their churches.
North/West Lower Michigan Synod
To equip congregations to welcome persons into a community of faith and prepare them for a lifelong journey of discipleship beginning with baptism through an immersion event and a mentoring program.
Peletah Ministries
To elevate and strengthen the worship experience of young adults through the creative arts of music, dance, mime, and spoken word.
Raymond Village Community Church
To explore the meaning of worship by creating engaging community worship experiences that involve the creative gifts and talents of the congregation in art and prayer.
St Andrew's Episcopal Church of Denver
To enrich a contemplative worship service and to explore issues of faith, worship, contemplative prayer and the arts.
Archdiocese of Los Angeles Office For Worship
To create a multicultural church music and liturgy mentoring program to develop the skills and knowledge of high school and college musicians in order to build the liturgical capacity of the parishes in the dioceses of Southern California.
Avon Lake United Church of Christ
To strengthen youth ministry and worship through youth interns who will learn about worship, participate in worship planning and leading, and develop intergenerational relationships throughout the congregation.
Azusa Pacific University
To promote a reciprocal relationship between scholarship and service by incorporating congregation-based service-learning experiences into the worship curriculum.
Belmont University
To reflect on worship in a university setting by nurturing the practices of prayer, reflecting on possibilities for a new chapel space, and exposing students to local church leaders and various worship traditions.
Campus Chapel of Ann Arbor
To incorporate visual arts and video into campus worship in a theologically thoughtful and culturally sensitive way through community conversations and learning events.