1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA
On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 2024 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 offer a one-week Summer Institute on worship and the arts for clergy, laity and seminarians with the intent of exploring the intersections of arts and religion and how these intersections can renew worship.
To conduct two three-day leadership institutes focusing on the foundation, formula, form, fervency, and festivity of Christian worship.
To increase involvement and understanding of sermons by engaging youth, leaders and pastors in a process of preparation which will include discussion of the text, life applications and the creation of visual materials.
To encourage a wide variety of youth and adults who have gifts in music, technology, public speaking and hospitality to create ecumenical worship services which will be offered on Wednesday evenings for people in rural settings who often are unable to gather on Sundays for traditional worship.
To develop multigenerational worship services led by multicultural worship teams which focus on the community of faith and engages both children and adults through music from diverse cultures and weekly celebration of the Lord’s Supper.
To train lay leaders in understanding and communicating Scripture through workshops in several churches, so that Scripture might be integrated into worship in meaningful ways.
To develop and nurture children as worship leaders in an urban multicultural congregation through a summer camp and after school program.
To sponsor a composer-in-residence to compose ten “call and response” invocations (prayers) that will be integrated into all aspects of the church’s worship life as a community.
To conduct two worship renewal seminars for small congregations, and invite up to eight congregational worship planning teams to enter into extensive on-site consultation with experts in liturgical music, worship space and environment.
To offer seminars and training for worship leaders in small or ethnic congregations, to plan and carry out joint worship with the participating congregations, and to create original artwork for worship.
To develop student worship leaders, increase understanding of worship among the membership, and enrich the visual dimension of worship through installations for the seasons of the church year.
To conduct workshops in biblical storytelling that will provide skills for telling stories in worship and for use in family devotions.
