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.
First Congregational Church of Webster Groves
To enliven worship through the arts, especially jazz, and environmental awareness to discover the wonder and joy of being stewards of God's creation.
First Congregational Church, New London
To deeply engage scripture in worship through prayer stations that explore the history, theology, spirituality, and justice elements of the weekly scripture text.
Grace Baptist Church
To collaboratively create original liturgy, hymnody, and art for worship that facilitates connection with God in all of life.
Light of Hope Presbyterian Church (2020)
To explore contextual methods of proclamation in a dinner and spirituality service that facilitates deeper participation of the community in worship.
New Hope Presbyterian Church
To nurture community within the congregation and the neighborhood by promoting active participation in worship through the arts and the preached Word.
Seabury Resources for Aging (2020)
To create and pilot participatory intergenerational worship resources that facilitate collaborative worship in a variety of contexts.
Serenity the Prince of Peace Church of God In Christ
To create a consortium of young adults who will be trained and mentored to design and execute a monthly ecumenical, multicultural, and multigenerational worship gathering.
St. Elizabeth Episcopal Church
To initiate a contemplative worship service that uses participatory and sensually rich gestures, silence, and Celtic music in order to cultivate worshipers’ imagination of God.
The Road Church
To explore ways the worshiping community’s values can be embodied in communal worship practices that shape worshipers' engagement with God, one another, and God’s world.
Trinity Church Northborough
To explore and experiment with different formats of intergenerational worship in order to foster cross-generational community and deeper connection with God.
Trinity United Methodist Church
To train worshipers in improvisational theater techniques in order to create a variety of worship experiences that facilitate intergenerational participation in worship.
Wake Forest Baptist Church (WFBC)
To pilot an interactive worship experience that fosters practices of justice, stewardship, and vocational exploration, and facilitates personal and communal encountering of God.