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 increase participation of laity across generations in planning and leading worship by strengthening the choir as a vehicle for leadership and formation.
Becki Graves
To celebrate the diversity of Christianity through exploring the contemplative, Holiness, Evangelical, social justice, charismatic, and incarnational expressions of the Church as part of the process of creating original artistic, poetic, and musical stations of the cross to share in local churches.
Shively Smith
To showcase and provide access to the scriptural interpretations of nineteenth-century African American women by curating a web-based lectionary resource.
To encourage meditation and spiritual disciplines that will help congregants center themselves on God and deepen practices of embodied engagement
Debra Rienstra
To provide inspirational and practical examples of how churches and individual Christians can address the climate crisis in podcast interviews of Christian communities who have adapted their mission and practices toward a more just and sustainable world.
Daniel Jesse
To investigate how the lyrics and melodies of contemporary Christian music influence the way worshipers perceive and articulate their feelings in relation to their faith, with a particular focus on the way sadness is expressed in worship.
To employ liturgical worship, singing, music, and other learning activities such as book and movie discussion to promote racial healing and community.
To engage in spiritual practices of liturgical writing, reflection, prayer, and art to collaboratively create a community prayer book that will facilitate the spiritual growth and well-being of the community through both personal and communal use.
To create worship resources that will teach a biblical theology of work to narrow the gap between gathered times of worship and the other six days of the week.
Jonathan Calvillo
To examine how hip-hop can be a resource for building spiritual community among Latinx diaspora by modeling how to integrate experiences of race, social engagement, and spiritual support in ministry with youth.
Antonio E. Alonso
To spark deeper conversations about the significance of the materiality of lived Christian practice through theological reflection on the reception of Vatican II liturgical reforms in Asian, Latine, and Black Catholic contexts.
To encourage a deep and ongoing engagement with scripture by singing, teaching, and praying the psalms of ascent as an intergenerational community.
