1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University
© 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 create multisensory intergenerational worship experiences through retreats, worship services, community events, and worship labs that promote deeper spiritual connection and extend worship beyond the church walls.
Catherine E. Williams
To promote effective homiletical practices that are integral to the flourishing of Caribbean congregational life by producing instructional materials related to the homiletical wisdom and liturgical practices of Caribbean congregations in the United States and the Caribbean islands.
To implement worship-centered Black History Month celebrations, inspired by Revelation 7:9, that integrate chapel services, student learning, soul food, and community storytelling to represent hope in God's redemptive story and to celebrate diversity.
To promote vibrant, multilingual worship through a multicultural preaching and worship lab that will form, equip, and unite two diverse congregations.
To reclaim joy and play as expressions of faith in worship by inviting special guest preachers to lead services and by creating a lab for translating scripture into embodied practice.
Aaron Howard
To encourage racial reconciliation in the church by creating a multimedia resource to equip worshiping communities to develop multiracial gospel choirs.
To create worship experiences that are Spirit-led, participatory, and deeply rooted in the gospel by equipping worship leaders and congregants to integrate storytelling as a sacred practice within weekly worship.
To produce new worship music centered on themes of justice, contemplation, and peace through a songwriting retreat embedded within a fellowship program.
To deepen the spiritual lives of staff, guests, and ministry hosts through a monthly day of prayer, staff discipleship cohorts, training in worship practices, and a “Longest Night” worship service.
To diversify the cultural representation of the music used in Mennonite churches by developing best practices for creating, sourcing, curating, and hosting resources from a greater diversity of worship expressions.
To promote intergenerational faith formation, spiritual curiosity, and a sense of belonging within the church community by engaging worshipers in a multisensory worship lab experience.
To create worship resources for Latino/a congregations that will foster resilience and trust in God's justice, informed by a theology of social holiness and conducive to expressing both faith and protest.
