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 liturgical and educational resources that equip Moravian clergy and lay leaders to guide worshipers in connecting their faith with social justice.
To cultivate congregational commitments to justice and diversity by training worship leaders to incorporate music from various cultural traditions, commissioning new works, and collaborating with neighboring arts organizations.
To unite existing Korean-, English-, and Chinese-speaking Christian communities in worship by training leaders for new multilingual chapel services featuring rotating language leadership and real-time translation.
Clair Mesick
To study New Testament texts on despair, suicide, and mental disorder (“madness”) in their historical and cultural contexts and to consult with experts in pastoral care and psychology to consider implications for the contemporary church context and to provide resources for preaching on these topics that do not demonize mental illness.
Forrest Wakeman
To encourage deeper appreciation of God’s redemptive pursuit of God’s people through preparing for (including learning the music and studying the text) a premier performance of a large-scale choral and orchestral work that sets Old Testament texts by the biblical prophets as a dialogue between God and God’s people.
Edward Foley
To empower preachers to effectively engage with science in their sermons and homilies through a training program and the creation of digital resources.
To facilitate active worship by teaching congregants about embodied worship and developing worship activities available for communal and devotional use on an app.
To encourage thoughtful reflection on current worship practices by gathering a cohort of pastors that will explore a comprehensive, contextualized, and historically rooted philosophy of worship and ministry.
To deepen intergenerational participation in worship by equipping lay leaders, developing resources for leading worship leading, and expanding opportunities for creative expressions in worship.
To develop innovative, embodied, and nature-based worship practices that resonate with spiritually curious individuals outside of traditional church structures.
To encourage intergenerational worship in Chinese churches by empowering seniors to participate in worship leadership and by training leaders to foster inclusion of laypersons representing multiple generations.
To grow in practices of lament, contemplation, and engaging art in worship through learning trips, coaching, and sharing learnings with congregational partners.
