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 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 engage members of the congregation in Worship Renewal Circles that will deepen their understanding of worship, encourage the creation of worship journals and share their learnings with two neighboring congregations.
To encourage personal and public prayer practices in worshipers of all ages by creating a language for prayer through Lectio divina, praying the Psalms, and media that includes Twitter and Facebook.
To engage the congregation in study and reflection of the Lord's Supper and unity that will extend hospitality and shape their life together as they move from being a mono-cultural to multi-cultural congregation.
To offer hands-on intergenerational workshops which combine theological reflection with prayerful creativity to build trust and strengthen ties as they create thoughtful art for worship.
To engage the congregation in learning about diverse cultural and linguistic worship resources such as music, visual art and dance and to use them in worship to better reflect the growing diversity in the community and in the congregation.
To develop a worship planning group of youth and adults who will host workshops and plan worship using what has been learned.
To express the broad range of worship expressions that appear in the Bible through workshops to create liturgies, prayers, responsive readings, music, poems and art with a focus on the Psalms and Revelation.
To engage in a process of learning and reflection on the use of music drama and art that will create intergenerational worship services for the congregation and other churches in the community who have been invited to learn with them.
To collaborate with four local churches of different denominations to encourage ecumenism through the study and implementation of faithful communion practices by offering workshops on Eucharistic and evangelical hospitality as well as tools for using the arts in worship.
To create liturgies and other worship resources that will assist multicultural communities to bridge the gap between English and Spanish speaking worshipers and to offer workshops that will guide congregations in the use of the resources.
To develop cell groups that include members of the prison congregation, partner churches and ex-offenders which will develop communion services to be used in the prison and community congregations.
