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.
Mount Aery Baptist Church
To discover the vastness of God by engaging worship practices that connect mind, body, and spirit.
New Brunswick Theological Seminary
To facilitate meaningful, active participation of the whole community in worship by exploring the role of worship in theological education and methods of digital accessibility.
New Hope Covenant Church
To form a hospitable communal worship space that welcomes worshipers’ whole selves and celebrates all of the Body of Christ in its diversity by engaging in music, arts, and storytelling.
North Decatur Presbyterian Church
To increase Biblical literacy and an awareness of the beauty of God by expressing scripture through art.
Park Avenue Christian Church
To enable deeper participation in scripture through drama, dance, and music as modes of proclamation.
Pennsylvania State University
AnneMarie Mingo
AnneMarie Mingo
To involve women of color in the development of models and resources for connecting worship and public social witness.
Rainier Beach Presbyterian Church
To deepen worshipers’ practice of joy in a community marked by suffering by creating Psalm-influenced liturgical art together.
Raleigh Mennonite Church
To renew a robust Communion practice by exploring the ways global, local, and congregational table practices deepen worshipers’ engagement with God and the world.
Redeemed Christian Church of God Strong Tower Parish
To facilitate the full participation in worship of persons with dementia by engaging with experts in inclusive worship in order to provide all worshipers with increased spiritual transformation and social connectedness.
Root and Branch Church
To build relationships around the table by exploring a dinner church format and by reflecting on Scripture to create new songs that represent this expression of worship.
Seattle Pacific University
To engage multicultural worship as a means of reconciliation through immersion experiences that expand students’ awareness of God and will inform their leadership of multicultural worship on campus and at local churches.
Sidebar Stories
To strengthen the role of testimony in worship by helping worshipers tell their stories through visual art, original song, and written narrative.