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.
St. Giles Kingsway Presbyterian Church
To create a robust sending rite that empowers and commissions worshipers to engage God’s work in the world in their daily lives.
St. John's Abbey
To develop in pastoral musicians skills for leading congregational singing that facilitate active participation and transformation in worshipers.
St. Philothea Greek Orthodox Church
To increase worshipers’ experience of the beauty of God by equipping churches with tools and with skilled leaders that will continue the rich tradition of chant, iconography, woodworking, and textiles in Orthodox worship.
Union Congregational United Church of Christ
To deepen worshipers’ love of God and neighbor through disciplined improvisations of jazz in worship.
Warwick United Church of Christ
To fully integrate the arts in the worship life of the church through collaboration among liturgists, musicians, and visual artists, in order to express and embody the attributes of God and the identity of worshipers’ as God’s beloved people.
Allen Chapel AME Church
To enrich worship by exploring the ways that music, dance, and visual arts support both formative and expressive aspects of gathered worship.
Brentwood Presbyterian Church
To deepen worshipers’ understanding of the triune God by engaging in and reflecting on the dynamism of jazz music in Christian liturgy.
City Church of Compton
To cultivate in children an awareness of the beauty of God in worship while teaching them skills for leading worship through music, dance, and visual arts.
Grace and Peace Community Church
To reflect on Scripture and culture in order to compose songs and worship expressions that are fitting to a multicultural urban congregational context.
Pillar Church
To enrich worship by collaboratively creating artistic liturgical resources inspired by the book of Revelation in order to promote a rich engagement with Scripture.
Seabury Resources for Aging
To implement a participatory intergenerational worship service in which worshipers engage Scripture through art, music, storytelling, and guided discussion.
Southeastern Iowa Synod-Free Indeed
To equip the members of a worshiping community within a prison for pastoral and musical leadership.