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.
Brad East
To help Christians, especially evangelical Protestants, develop a renewed appreciation for and love of baptism by exploring how it can be integrated into a full-orbed vision of the Christian life and the church’s public worship.
To create new baptismal resources that educate and encourage new believers in ways that respond to the needs of diverse twenty-first-century Christian families.
To reimagine the practice of the Lord’s Supper—including designing table installations, creating contextualized liturgies, and hosting culturally specific "love feasts"—to represent the diversity of Christ's body and enrich the spirit of celebration surrounding communion.
To promote intergenerational faith formation by teaching about baptism, communion, and the Christian year.
To deepen congregational fellowship and theological understanding of the Lord’s Supper through intergenerational study, shared meals, artistic expression, and service.
To promote unity in the global church and the integration of worship with daily discipleship by equipping worship leaders and musicians with resources for communion that invite congregations into worship that remembers Christ’s sacrifice, deepens worshipers’ participation, and extends hospitality and peace beyond the sanctuary.
To create experiences of the Eucharist inside and outside of Sunday worship that will draw people into ritual practices of Christian worship and deepen their connection to one other and to Christ.
Nathan Chase
To study the connection between sacramental practices and ordinary life (meal, ministry of touch, and oil) through three historical case studies from the early church and Roman Catholic liturgical practice to help Roman Catholic worshiping communities understand the historical origins of Eucharist, healing, and ordination.
Jennifer Lord
To encourage renewed engagement with the sacrament of baptism among Protestant Christians by studying baptismal practices and theology in Orthodox Christianity, with special emphasis on confession of sins as part of baptismal living.
To facilitate worship and learning opportunities centered around the sacraments of baptism and eucharist to help multicultural and multigenerational families in the local community become grounded in their faith.
To deepen worshipers’ understanding of being a baptismal community by creating liturgical resources in celebration of the five hundredth anniversary of the Anabaptist tradition.
To build Christ-centered unity amid a fractured and polarized society by teaching about and promoting shared foundational Christian practices, including the sacraments, the Lord’s Prayer, and the engagement of scripture.
