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.
Michelle A. Stinson
To explore the topic of time through biblical/theological, environmental, and agrarian reflections, probing how God’s care for creation as experienced in nature’s seasons and agriculture’s rhythms offers renewed hope as we emerge from an extended season of Covid-tide.
To illuminate God’s beauty and brilliance in Durham’s public housing communities by offering liturgical arts learning events and collaborating with public housing residents to plan and host outdoor worship services.
Ruth Elaine Labeth
To study the composition of scripture-based songs in Creole churches in Guadeloupe to help worship leaders and pastors envision culturally contextualized worship.
To train worship leaders in technical skills and the use of technology for the development and implementation of bilingual worship services to promote unity among different generations in the community.
To create embodied, tactile, and participatory worship practices and liturgies to promote communal engagement and create a hospitable and accessible worship environment.
To strengthen the biblical, theological, and practical formation of worship leaders and the entire congregation through a series of workshops and special public worship services.
To embody a connection between Christian liturgy and ethical living by implementing a hospitable, ecumenical, multicultural, and bilingual worship gathering for students, staff, and faculty that emphasizes the well-being of the planet and the healing of broken relationships, especially those with Indigenous peoples.
To expand an existing food truck ministry by offering accessible communal worship opportunities in parks, bus stations, and parking lots where meals are served.
To equip local church leaders to worship by letting “justice roll down” in their lives, by training cohort members to address structural racial disparities, and by developing a theological framework that highlights God’s desire for shalom and the advocacy for the oppressed found in scripture.
To promote participatory intergenerational worship by creating a collaborative worship planning team and by hosting educational events about the theology of worship and the diversity of African American worship styles, including music and dance.
To encourage active participation in the rhythms of worship (gathering, thanksgiving, response, and transformation) through weekly meals, rituals of gratitude, testimonies, and exploration of varied ways to live out faith in daily life.
To explore art and creativity as an act of worship to promote shalom in the community through workshops, retreats, and learning practices of contemplative creativity.
