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 strengthen practices of congregational song by introducing a globally diverse diet of hymns and other congregational songs and by strengthening understanding of the contexts in which songs were created.
To facilitate the full participation of worshipers from all faith backgrounds by enhancing both the physical space for worship and the forms of music and visual arts in the liturgy.
To deepen worshipers' awareness of the beauty and character of God by engaging various art forms in an intergenerational and ecumenical context on campus and in partner churches.
To create an intentional process for selecting music for congregational singing that promotes vibrant worship and facilitates the full, conscious, active participation of worshipers.
To enliven worship through the arts, especially jazz, and environmental awareness to discover the wonder and joy of being stewards of God's creation.
To engage all generations in the singing and study of hymns in order to increase worshipers' awareness of God in daily Christian living.
To collaboratively create original liturgy, hymnody, and art for worship that facilitates connection with God in all of life.
Nathan Myrick
To identify, through ethnographic research, the myriad ways that musical worship participates in human flourishing, and to share these insights with Christian leaders in order to promote healthy and vibrant communities of Christian fellowship and worship.
To nurture community within the congregation and the neighborhood by promoting active participation in worship through the arts and the preached Word.
To create and pilot participatory intergenerational worship resources that facilitate collaborative worship in a variety of contexts.
Monique M. Ingalls
To conduct ethnographic fieldwork of interethnic gospel choirs and to identity promising strategies for how worship music can build "convivial" interethnic congregational cultures.
To deeply form worshipers through the structure of the liturgy by collaboratively writing songs for the elements of the liturgy.
