1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 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 strengthen the community’s connection with God and with one another by deepening worshipers' practices of communal intercessory prayer.
To explore the ways the liturgy facilitates hospitality as a Christian liturgical practice in order to be open and welcoming to all people.
To implement a participatory intergenerational worship service in which worshipers engage Scripture through art, music, storytelling, and guided discussion.
To equip the members of a worshiping community within a prison for pastoral and musical leadership.
To expand participation in worship for disparate communities by developing a common musical repertoire, writing new music, and theologically reflecting on music's role in worship.
To shape the language, prayer, and song of a worshiping community by composing new songs based on a deepened engagement with the Psalms, informed by their use in various faith traditions.
To explore the transcultural, contextual, and cross-cultural nature of music and art in the liturgy in order to promote a welcoming and inclusive worship experience.
To facilitate formation through worship by implementing new practices from Celtic spirituality that engage the head, heart, and hands of all worshipers.
To develop liturgical and sacramental practices that foster an inclusive and just experience of worship for all people.
To equip and encourage leaders to implement new practices in their congregations that express the connection between worship, mission, and discipleship, through exposure to leaders from different continents and ethnicities.
To immerse children from varied religious backgrounds in reflection on worship practices by engaging them in music composition, singing, liturgy writing, and Scripture reading, and to expose adults to the worship styles and traditions of those children.
To raise up the value of sacred space by exploring how the practice and visually marking of sacred space in the chapel can extend into the rest of the campus.
