Current and Past Grants

Cairn Christian Church

To cultivate worship that is healing, embodied, and accessible for people navigating church hurt, spiritual curiosity, and evolving faith by developing worship practices that engage the whole person—body, mind, and spirit—and connect worship with everyday life through a year-long process of shared practices, theological reflection, and communal discernment.

Dominican House of Studies

Dominic Langevin

To free young Christians from scrupulosity and obsessive feelings of doubt and guilt in worship by creating resources that draw on the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas in dialogue with contemporary psychology.

Inspiro Arts Alliance

To open a path for Afghans to grieve, acknowledge suffering, process sorrow and pain, and grow in healing after trauma through developing musical and other practices of lament to be incorporated in worship.

Most Excellent Way Learning Life Center

To foster spiritual healing and renewed engagement in public worship for individuals affected by trauma, reentry, and community disconnection, by integrating theological reflection, leadership development, and healing-centered participatory worship practices.

New City East Lake

To equip worshipers  to process complex emotions through a biblical lens and develop resilience to respond to communal loss and rising cultural anxiety by engaging devotionals, music, liturgy, and events centered on the psalms.

Sahag Mesrob Armenian Christian School

To foster children’s active participation in worship and provide a spiritual anchor for families affected by the Eaton Fire by positioning worship as a central site of continuity in times of trauma and teaching students a scriptural understanding of Armenian Christian worship songs and prayer practices.

St. Francis of Assisi Episcopal Church

To launch and sustain a monthly healing service to deepen spiritual connections and promote holistic well-being through music, inspiring teaching, and prayer.

Wartburg Theological Seminary

Jan Schnell

To examine how worship practices can hurt or exclude people at the margins, to analyze this research informed by trauma studies and liturgical theology, and to create pedagogical tools and liturgical resources that promote worship in which God’s welcome becomes lived experience.

Allen Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church

To support worshipers with mental health challenges by promoting mental health awareness, training congregants to offer peer support, and encouraging mental well-being through music ministry.

Calvin University

Clair Mesick

To study New Testament texts on despair, suicide, and mental disorder (“madness”) in their historical and cultural contexts and to consult with experts in pastoral care and psychology to consider implications for the contemporary church context and to provide resources for preaching on these topics that do not demonize mental illness.

Emmaus Church 

To study and develop trauma-informed worship practices in order to provide hospitality, healing, and home to those who have been harmed by the church. 

Freely in Hope

To minister to survivors of sexual abuse through an arts-based storytelling project and worship services designed to honor pain and foster healing and through training for church leaders in trauma-informed care.