Vital Worship Grants awarded for 2016
Since it began in the year 2000, the Vital Worship Grants Program of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in Grand Rapids, Michigan - formerly known as the Worship Renewal Grants Program - has awarded more than 750 grants to churches, schools and seminaries across North America for projects that can generate thoughtfulness and energy for public worship and faith formation at the local, grass-roots level.
Now, another 28 such projects will join the mix and receive grants from the Worship Institute with a total of $350,000 in funding provided by Lilly Endowment, Inc.
Among the projects:
- A congregational project in California to explore storytelling in worship through stories of forebears of faith and members of the community today.
- Efforts in New York and Virginia to expand the use gifts of people of all abilities in worship.
- A project in North Carolina to compose worship songs that reflect the experience of incarcerated worshipers and use music as a bridge between free and incarcerated worshipers.
- Plans in Ohio and Michigan to provide liturgical training to enhance the planning and leading of worship by lay and clergy leaders, especially in small congregations.
- Projects in Alberta and Massachusetts to engage the biblical story through visual arts.
- A congregational plan in Chicago to integrate the experience of several ethnic groups through songs and prayers reflecting their cultures.
All told, grant recipients for 2016 represent congregations and schools from 17 denominations, 14 states and one Canadian province, 20 congregations and church plants, four regional church bodies, and four college and seminary communities. An advisory board of pastors and teachers from a variety of backgrounds assisted in the grant selections.
Kathy Smith, leader of the Vital Worship Grants Team, said that projects chosen this year to receive funding had common elements in focusing on intergenerational worship and storytelling. “Vital worship provides many opportunities for worshipers of all ages to engage in learning and exploration, and affirming the stories of the past and present is a wonderful way to enrich that learning,” she said.
John Witvliet, director of the CICW, added that the 2016 projects will help the Worship Institute in its own work of both the scholarly study of the theology, history and practice of Christian worship and the renewal of worship in worshiping communities across North America and beyond.
"We learn a tremendous amount from these programs—from the wisdom demonstrated in designing them and the insights gleaned from implementing and adapting them as they unfold. We look forward to sharing insights from these projects with a larger audience in our future programming over the next several years."
For the 2016 grant recipients, learning will begin in earnest this June when project directors for all 28 grants gather on Calvin’s campus to dialogue not only with CICW staff, but also with the recipients of 2015 grants, who will come to campus to share the results of their year-long projects.
“We look forward to a collaborative time of worshiping and learning together,” said Smith, “and hope that sharing stories will be a powerful way to encourage one another.”
The Vital Worship Grants Program is generously supported by Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. Founded in 1937, the Endowment’s major areas of concern are religion, education, and community development.
For more information on the grants program, including a complete list of this year’s grant recipients, please see: worship.calvin.edu/grants.