1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 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 experiences of the Eucharist inside and outside of Sunday worship that will draw people into ritual practices of Christian worship and deepen their connection to one other and to Christ.
To promote a deeper understanding and practice of psalm-singing through teaching and singing the psalms in preparation to write, record, and sign modern responsorial psalm settings.
To deepen engagement with a culturally broad array of sacred chant traditions in order to facilitate reconciliation between Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches.
To encourage the holistic peace (shalom) of a diverse community of immigrants and refugees by developing multilingual, culturally relevant, and trauma-informed preaching and worship practices.
To engage multilingual lay preachers from several congregations in a yearlong preaching workshop to strengthen their pastoral skills, expand kingdom impact in their communities, and cultivate sustainable leadership across diverse congregations.
To foster Spanish/English bilingual worship and preaching through leadership training, outreach practices, and translation technology.
To grow in experiences and understanding of embodied worship by encouraging movement, artistic expression, and creative exploration in worship.
To strengthen an emerging group of creatives by fostering community, deepening theological understanding of creativity and faith, and encouraging vibrant artistic expressions of worship.
To learn about and practice collaborative worship planning among clergy, musicians, youth, and lay leaders to strengthen leadership and deepen intergenerational engagement.
To ground the congregation in biblical and theological foundations of prayer by teaching on the theology and practice of prayer and by fostering opportunities for shared intergenerational group prayer experiences.
To help participants deepen their experience of God by developing inclusive and artistic worship practices that blend traditional and contemporary elements of worship and cultivate spaces that are welcoming, accessible, and reflective of diverse spiritual needs.
To pursue justice by enabling worship artists from the United States and Palestine to create rich liturgies and songs that reflect the lived realities of Palestinian Christians.
