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.
Find resources related to the learning from the Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants Program.
To renew a Spanish worshiping community through communal practices of worship connected to art, dance, hospitality, and service.
To nurture a cohort of artists who will contribute to the faith formation of the whole congregation by creating art with and for the congregation.
To strengthen corporate worship with theological reflection, innovative and embodied worship elements, creative arts, and the unique gifts of the congregation.
To engage worshipers in a year of walking with Jesus by multisensory worship through the seasons of the church year and connections with worshipers' daily lives.
To develop intergenerational, indigenous worship by including the congregation in designing worship services for Advent and Holy Week that include music, visual arts and drama.
To explore the meaning of worship by creating engaging community worship experiences that involve the creative gifts and talents of the congregation in art and prayer.
To create participatory worship experiences utilizing visual, musical, and dramatic arts to promote a multisensory awareness of God' presence, especially for the deaf community.
To help seminary students and faculty discern theologically sound and effective uses of technology and visual media in worship through a year-long process of learning about best practices for chapel worship.
To strengthen the presentation of scripture in worship by incorporating artistic elements that appeal to all of the senses.
To promote a reciprocal relationship between scholarship and service by incorporating congregation-based service-learning experiences into the worship curriculum.
To bring together multiple generations to plan liturgies that connect Sunday worship to daily life and to enhance the liturgy through artistic interpretations of scripture.
To incorporate visual arts and video into campus worship in a theologically thoughtful and culturally sensitive way through community conversations and learning events.
