1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 2026 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 deepen liturgical formation and engagement among young adult Latinos by involving them in forming, training, and accompanying a dedicated choir to lead sacred music at Iskali retreats and beyond.
To equip worshipers to identify, develop, and use their spiritual gifts in worship through training, reflection, and active participation.
To engage worship arts such as music, dance, mime, and drama to form worshipers who embody the characteristics of the Beatitudes.
To deepen the spiritual lives of staff, guests, and ministry hosts through a monthly day of prayer, staff discipleship cohorts, training in worship practices, and a “Longest Night” worship service.
To launch an intergenerational worship formation project pairing older mentors and students to learn and model prayer, worship, and scripture reading to foster deeper and lasting spiritual disciplines and a sustainable culture of vibrant faith expression.
To engage the spiritual disciplines in worship in order to promote spiritual flourishing for the seminary community as well as nearby community churches.
To ground congregants in faith rituals that tie the mind and body together by offering workshops, structured according to the order of worship, that highlight particular practices and experiences for use in worship.
Laura Benjamins
To evaluate the musical curriculum of local churches and offer practical insights for engaging congregants in musical theological formation.
To ground the congregation in biblical and theological foundations of prayer by teaching on the theology and practice of prayer and by fostering opportunities for shared intergenerational group prayer experiences.
J. J. Wright
To learn how a musical dramatic proclamation of Christ’s Passion and resurrection awakens friendship, hope, and missionary imagination, and to translate lessons learned into pastoral habits that strengthen Christian worshiping communities.
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.
