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.
To equip youth to reflect on contextual needs as they plan, lead, and evaluate worship.
To provide training, internships, and experiences of liturgical music from various traditions and cultures to high school students with potential to be future liturgical pastoral ministers.
To collaborate with another church to explore worship for diverse ages, cultures and lifestyles, and foster a rich heritage of intergenerational worship practices.
To deepen the understanding of multicultural worship in a unified church by integrating songs and prayers that reflect the language and culture of the various groups in worship.
To facilitate culturally-varied worship experiences that will engage students in grades four through eight to make real connections with God in worship.
To nurture the gifts of the often-excluded community of those with special needs and promote a vibrant worship celebration that embraces the gifts of all.
To cultivate youth to lead as well-formed liturgical musicians and ministers, expanding their knowledge of worship in music, ritual, and text.
To promote worship that engages the congregation and surrounding community through cultural stories that show how God forms the identity of God’s people.
To elevate and strengthen the worship experience of young adults through the creative arts of music, dance, mime, and spoken word.
To implement a study of the theology of worship that includes Scripture, Psalms, prayer and communion, and to apply this learning to planning worship events.
To create a multicultural church music and liturgy mentoring program to develop the skills and knowledge of high school and college musicians in order to build the liturgical capacity of the parishes in the dioceses of Southern California.
To strengthen youth ministry and worship through youth interns who will learn about worship, participate in worship planning and leading, and develop intergenerational relationships throughout the congregation.
