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.
Amy McLaughlin-Sheasby
To explore the efficacy of preaching through the lens of affect theory to help preachers think carefully about the extralinguistic properties of proclamation and the ethical questions of the power of preaching.
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.
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.
To equip lay leaders by hosting workshops that broaden understanding of what preaching can be in an intergenerational and hybrid worship context in order to expand leaders’ repertoire of meaningful ways of engaging with scripture to facilitate spiritual growth.
Sunggu A. Yang
To develop the practice of artistic-holistic preaching using examples from pottery, photography, Indigenous dancing, advertising, and poetry to offer innovative and practical resources for preaching education.
To provide continued education related to sermon writing for a cohort of African American preachers through seminars and virtual gatherings that build group solidarity, support, and accountability.
To create a program that trains lay preachers in contextualized preaching and offers practical skills for in-person and online services.
To create a preaching school for lay leaders to equip them with the knowledge and practical skills to develop an effective preaching ministry in their communities.
To involve lay members in the church’s preaching ministry by strengthening their biblical formation and training them in storytelling and personal testimony.
To develop a drama ministry to preach the word of God in an engaging and relevant way that will contextualize scripture and address social concerns.
To empower and support the formation of female lay preachers through peer training and a series of educational gatherings.
Sarah Travis
To support lay and experienced or retired preachers by developing a pedagogy that prioritizes mutual conversation and consideration of context and social location.
