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.
Myles Werntz
To help worshiping communities learn about the moral life by connecting categories of moral reasoning to the ongoing practice of worship and discipleship as described in Psalm 23.
Amanda Jo Pittman
To foster Christian formation through a study of how embodied and communal practices are described in the books of Luke and Acts.
To promote healthy spiritual formation for Korean American youth and young adults in New England through resource development, worship retreats, and spiritual formation discipleship cohorts.
To help students develop spiritual formation practices and build Christian community by mentoring student leaders and creating a weekly worship opportunity focused on prayer and lectio divina scripture study.
To increase participation of laity across generations in planning and leading worship by strengthening the choir as a vehicle for leadership and formation.
To encourage meditation and spiritual disciplines that will help congregants center themselves on God and deepen practices of embodied engagement.
Tyler Greenway
To compare the intended and actual outcomes of sermons and homilies by studying how listeners respond to preaching in their behavior, emotions, and beliefs.
Daniel Jesse
To investigate how the lyrics and melodies of contemporary Christian music influence the way worshipers perceive and articulate their feelings in relation to their faith, with a particular focus on the way sadness is expressed in worship.
To engage in spiritual practices of liturgical writing, reflection, prayer, and art to collaboratively create a community prayer book that will facilitate the spiritual growth and well-being of the community through both personal and communal use.
To help children come to love, learn about, and interact with God through the development of a children's Sabbath program that uses music, drama, visual arts, and other disciplines to teach children liturgical concepts and enable them to participate significantly in worship services.
Michelle A. Stinson
To create resources for exploring how “keeping time” with both liturgical and environmental/agrarian seasons can be a means of cultivating and fostering a biblical hope in uncertain times.
Kyle Dieleman
To encourage preachers through exploration of historical and contemporary Advent preaching to consider how preaching can form people for a life in which pacing, expectations, and longings are recast in light of the kingdom of God.
