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 promote a reciprocal relationship between scholarship and service by incorporating congregation-based service-learning experiences into the worship curriculum.
To explore forms of prayer from various Christian communities in different times and places that will inform and enhance times of communal worship on campus.
To explore and celebrate the seasons of the church year through learning experiences that engage the senses of worshipers of all ages leading to deeper understanding of God’s story of salvation in a congregation with many new, young families.
To empower adolescents to study the Bible, explore their faith, find their voice, grow as leaders and strengthen their relationships to their pastors and churches while giving tools to teachers and pastors to learn about faith formation so that they are better able to shepherd students through adolescence.
To engage children of all ages in creating drama, storytelling, dance, music and visual arts centered on the Psalms that can deepen understanding of Scripture and be used in worship.
To encourage the full, active and conscious engagement of youth in public worship and to create bilingual resources in collaboration with the National Federation of Youth Ministers (NFCYM) that will promote liturgy as the heart of Christian life.
To facilitate multi-generational and multi-cultural education in worship arts with an emphasis on the Psalms that will incorporate unique cultural contributions of people in the congregation from many nations.
To engage youth in leadership training that will help congregations throughout the Presbytery understand that worship is meaningful to people of all ages and encourage congregations to include youth in planning and leading worship.
To create a common language for worship among staff and clients through lament, Psalms and the Vertical Habits at an adolescent residential psychiatric treatment facility that will lead to corporate and personal worship that promotes spiritual healing.
To offer training for worship leaders of all ages in theological foundations of worship and musical and artistic abilities with a focus on developing the gifts of youth of several congregations in leading worship.
To engage youth and adults from three congregations to learn about intergenerational, multi-ethnic worship and to integrate what has been learned in Sunday worship.
To explore with young children how artistic response gives language to their understanding of God through mentoring and communication with staff and parents to more deeply engage them in worship in school and in their congregations.
