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 create multigenerational worship teams that engage in an educational process to learn from each other and work together to plan and lead weekly worship services.
To train youth and children in planning, leading, and facilitating intergenerational worship services that integrate art, dance, drama, scripture, story, and song.
To train congregants to tell both the biblical stories and their own faith story in fresh and lively ways through drama, images, movement, and storytelling in corporate worship.
To teach children the structure of worship, develop their skills for leading various aspects of worship, provide them with experiences of various worship-related arts, and work with them to prepare worship services through Summer Worship, Arts, and Music Camps.
To provide experiences and guidance through lectionary-based activities enabling participants of all ages and abilities to discover their own gifts and employ them in worship services within an urban community.
To investigate and implement ways in which participation in formal worship can be made increasingly accessible to children and youth.
To cultivate active youth leadership and participation in worship in the local church through the development and implementation of a Worship Leadership Training Program for Youth and Young Adults.
To encourage a deeper involvement in and understanding of worship among students by focusing on prayer in small group gatherings and creating concrete sensory liturgical experiences.
To engage laity and clergy from nine historic congregations in critical dialogue, theological reflection, action and celebration around the historical aspects of worship in the AMEC, in order to identify new interpretations of traditional models for worship, seek new vision for worship that is intergenerational, and bridge historical worship traditions with contemporary ones.
To develop resources for the four parts of the Episcopal Eucharist service, four activity sessions for young people and a Vacation Bible School program for ages 6 through 12 around the Vertical Habits themes, focusing on how these themes are aspects of a healthy relationship with God.
To identify the most important spiritual needs of adolescents in residential treatment programs, to develop worship utilizing music, art, drama and design which addresses those needs, and to develop a training module for staff and volunteers who lead worship in residential treatment settings.
To offer symposiums in worship planning, music, art, liturgy and drama for high school students and faculty who seek to plan and lead worship that is richly African-American and authentically Christian.
