1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 2024 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 help small congregations cultivate the practice of identifying and witnessing to God’s work in their communities by training pastors and church leaders in the practice of narrative worship.
Marcia Clarke
To equip pastors and worship leaders to guide congregations in theologically grounded, Spirit-informed worship experiences through promoting critical scholarly reflection on Pentecostal/Charismatic worship and collaboration between pastor-practioners and scholars.
Julie Canlis
To foster deep experiences of living in Christ among Christian worshipers through an exploration of how the early church formed the liturgical calendar.
To study and practice blessing one another and the wider community by emphasizing the theology of blessing in worship and by practicing embodied blessing of others in outdoor venues.
Becca Whitla
To equip the Canadian church to use congregational song to further reconciliation between settlers and Indigenous peoples and to address questions relevant to the Canadian context through a conference and the development of shareable resources.
To welcome, represent, and empower people of color and young adults in liturgical and musical leadership by expanding celebrations of nine major feasts and fasts with diverse musical expression and development of thematic seasonal worship series with reflection guides.
To promote active intergenerational participation in worship by developing and promoting a homiletical method that encourages wondering, storytelling, and godly play.
To encourage dance as a form of prayer and sacred art in worship through the development of collaborative cross-cultural workshops, meditative performances, and education materials.
To engage the neighborhood community with radical hospitality through creative worship by establishing an arts residency program and community arts events.
To translate and publish a hymnal of bilingual Kreyol-English songs for use by new Haitian-Americans and neighboring church communities as a way to welcome and embrace one another through congregational song.
To develop music, art, public ritual, and worshiping vocabulary by and for “exvangelicals” to deepen worshipers’ understanding of God as friend, companion, and liberator.
To deepen a sense of belonging for all members of an increasingly diverse worshiping community by creating trauma-informed, accessible, and contextual music and worship practices and by developing diverse and often marginalized leaders.
