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.

Select Category
Select Year
Select State/Province

Conrad Grebel University College

Carol Penner

To research Anabaptist worship materials and curate a centralized online site to make historical and contemporary Mennonite resources available for all to use.

Teacher-Scholar
Waterloo, ontario
2019

Cornerstone University

Martin Spence

To investigate the history of nationalism in American evangelical worship practices, working with congregational leaders to discern ways to disentangle Christian worship and nationalism.

Teacher-Scholar
Grand Rapids, michigan
2019


Dominican House of Studies/Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception

Andrew Hofer, O.P.

To study seven early Christian preachers who model various aspects of "incarnational" preaching and produce a resource encouraging preachers to integrate public speech with all of life.

Teacher-Scholar
Washington, district of columbia
2019

Emory University

Susan E. Hylen

To study the history of women's participation in church life in the early church with pastors and church leaders, discerning how historical claims do (and should) function in contemporary discussions.  

Teacher-Scholar
Atlanta, georgia
2019

Faith United Methodist Church

To pursue unity and reconciliation through deepening worshipers’ understanding and practices of Holy Communion.

Worshiping Communities
Pittsburgh, pennsylvania
2019

First Baptist Church Ashland

To foster intergenerational and interracial discipleship by writing daily liturgies together that connect with the weekly liturgies of corporate worship.

Worshiping Communities
Ashland, virginia
2019