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 deepen members’ experience of the holiness of God by exploring how various art forms can strengthen liturgical participation.
To cultivate young Christian leaders to mature in a life-long faith by empowering them with the skills and knowledge to lead intergenerational worship.
To frame communal hymn singing as a spiritual discipline in order to increase worshipers’ awareness of God.
To unite persons of different generations in multilingual Chinese-Canadian churches by fostering collaboration between pastors and worship leaders and by strengthening intergenerational engagement with the Psalms.
To equip youth to reflect on contextual needs as they plan, lead, and evaluate worship.
To strengthen participation in the sacraments through study and reflection on the connections between baptism, communion, faith formation and Christian community.
To connect the public worship of churches with worshipers’ personal grief by studying historical and biblical liturgies of lament.
To integrate regular campus worship with the academic undergraduate liberal arts curriculum as a source of Christian formation.
To equip lay leaders by providing training in giving testimony, proclaiming Scripture, offering public prayer, celebrating communion, and leading robust congregational song.
To discern God’s presence by exploring connections between corporate worship and responsiveness to God in daily life.
To educate the congregation about how to better welcome people of all abilities into the full worshipping life of the church.
To promote healing through worship by connecting three military congregations to engage together with Scripture, song and prayer focused on spiritual wellness.
