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  • Resources
  • Grants

    Apply for Grants

    Apply for the Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants Program to support and enhance Christian worship practices. We encourage proposals on universal design, cultural engagement, preaching, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and more. Two grant streams are available.

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    All Grants Awarded

    Explore all grants awarded since the program launched in 2000, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment Inc.

    Info for Current Recipients

    Explore detailed guidelines and support resources to help you manage your grant effectively.

    Teacher-Scholar Grants

    Apply for the Teacher Scholar Grant to support innovative research and teaching in Christian worship. Proposals from educators and scholars are welcome.

    Worshiping Communities Grants

    Apply for the Worshiping Communities Grant to support and enhance worship practices within your community. Proposals for diverse and innovative worship initiatives are welcome.

    Teacher-Scholar Grants

    Apply for the Teacher Scholar Grant to support innovative research and teaching in Christian worship. Proposals from educators and scholars are welcome.

    Worshiping Communities Grants

    Apply for the Worshiping Communities Grant to support and enhance worship practices within your community. Proposals for diverse and innovative worship initiatives are welcome.

  • Events

    Events

    Join us for our Symposium on Worship and Summer Seminars. Engage in inspiring sessions, workshops, and intensive seminars to deepen your understanding and practice of Christian worship.

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    Calendar of Events

    Consider joining an upcoming event we sponsor or support. An archive is also available for reference.

    Dwelling in the Psalms

    You are invited to join the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in a year of dwelling in the Psalms—the prayerbook and songbook of the Bible.

    Upcoming Event

    Artwork: "Celebration" by John August Swanson, 2003
    From Generation to Generation: A Service of Lessons and Carols
    Join Calvin University choirs for their fiftieth annual lessons and carols service, which coincides with Calvin University's 150th anniversary celebrations spanning the 2025–26 academic year. 
    December 7, 2025, 3:00 PM
    Grand Rapids
    , 
    Michigan
    View Event
  • About

    About

    The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship at Calvin University advances Christian worship through resources, events, and grants. Since 1997, we have partnered with congregations and organizations to fulfill our mission.

    Learn More

    Mission

    We promote the study and renewal of Christian worship through partnerships at Calvin University.

    What We Do

    We partner with congregations and organizations, focusing on resources, events, and grants.

    Diversity and Inclusion

    We promote worship practices that celebrate diversity and foster inclusion in all communities.

    Partners

    Discover our generous funding partners who make our programs possible through their support and grants.

    Staff Directory

    Find contact information and profiles for CICW staff across all programs.

    Learn at Calvin

    Calvin University offers many options for learners and students of all ages and contexts.

    Learn about MLC

    Learn about MLC

    A program for first- and second-year Calvin University students exploring how their interests intersect with the church.

    MLC Leadership Staff

    Meet the Ministry Leadership Cohort staff.

    MLC Peer Leaders

    Meet the Ministry Leadership Cohort peer leaders.

    A program for first- and second-year Calvin University students exploring how their interests intersect with the church.

    Contact Us

    Get in touch with us for inquiries, support, or more information about our programs and services.

    Executive Director Search

    Learn at Calvin

    Calvin University offers many options for learners and students of all ages and contexts.

    Learn about MLC

    Learn about MLC

    A program for first- and second-year Calvin University students exploring how their interests intersect with the church.

    MLC Leadership Staff

    Meet the Ministry Leadership Cohort staff.

    MLC Peer Leaders

    Meet the Ministry Leadership Cohort peer leaders.

    A program for first- and second-year Calvin University students exploring how their interests intersect with the church.

    Contact Us

    Get in touch with us for inquiries, support, or more information about our programs and services.

    Executive Director Search


  • Resources

  • Grants
    • All Grants Awarded
    • Info for Current Recipients
    • Teacher-Scholar Grants
    • Worshiping Communities Grants

  • Events
    • Calendar of Events
    • Dwelling in the Psalms

  • About
    • Mission
    • What We Do
    • Diversity and Inclusion
    • Partners
    • Staff Directory
    • Learn at Calvin
    • Learn about MLC
      • Learn about MLC
      • MLC Leadership Staff
      • MLC Peer Leaders
    • Contact Us
    • Executive Director Search

  • 1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA

    On the campus of Calvin University

    © 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship


Search Results

Video Christian Year Planning Worship

Luke 24:13-19 | Road to Emmaus & Easter Evening

2018Calvin Symposium on Worship | Service
Article Leadership Intergenerational Cultural Diversity

Lessons on Developing Young Leaders: Find Room to Speak about Challenges, Problems, and Sin

Key 3 of four keys on how to develop young people as leaders in the church from six seasoned Latin@ leaders whose congregations and parachurch groups are leadership incubators for the young people in their communities.
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Video

Cultivating an Ecclesiological Understanding: An Interview with C. Michael Hawn led by John Witvliet

An interview on the occasion of Michael Hawn's retirement from the Vital Worship Grants Board in May 2021.
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Worshiping Communities Visual Arts

Eliot Presbyterian Church

To include the prayer life of children, expand the use of testimonies in worship, and deepen the understanding of baptism and the Lord’s Supper to unite people of different cultures, generations and denominations while celebrating their diversity.
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Article Psalms/Scripture

Psalm 8 - A Psalm of Praise

An order of worship planned around Psalm 8, originally held at the Calvin Symposium on Worship.
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Article Architecture Intergenerational Sacraments

Theological Reasons for Baptistry Shapes

In her wonderful book, A Place for Baptism, Regina Kuehn reminds readers that the baptismal font’s shape reveals baptismal truth, and the font points to baptism’s key element, water. She invites churches to think more about baptism’s sacramental weight and "the radical nature of our baptismal promises," than about whether the font is pretty.
photo of tree in desert
Article Justice/Reconciliation Pastoral Care Preaching

Daniel I. Block on God’s Grace in Ezekiel

Although Ezekiel’s strange visions and often shocking images perplex readers, Old Testament scholar Daniel I. Block explains why the book of Ezekiel is worth reading. The judgment, grace, and love God spoke through Ezekiel to Israel also apply to the church today.
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Article History Cultural Diversity Theology

The Church That Troubles - Acts 17

A worship service plan focusing on the challenge for the Christian church to be a redemptive tool in the hand of the risen Christ. Worshipers will hear how the early church was obedient to Christ's call and be faced with the challenge to do the same.
Article Faith Formation Intergenerational Psalms/Scripture

Psalms for Families: Devotions for All Ages, Psalm 133

Psalms for Families, by Robert J. Keeley and Laura Keeley, is a devotional book for the entire family designed to help parents explore the riches of the book of Psalms with their children and teens. These devotionals will help parents learn more about the psalms as they teach their children about praise, prayer, and lament. This book contains four devotionals on each of our selected psalms as well as notes for adults that provide additional information and background.
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Article Theology Justice/Reconciliation

The Search for a Ransom - Psalm 49, John 1, HCLD 5

A service plan from Lord's Day 5 of the Heidelberg Catechism focused on our need for deliverance, and the truth that truth deliverance can only be found in Jesus Christ, part of a series on the Heidelberg Catechism.
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Events

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  • Symposium on Worship

Grants

  • Teacher-Scholar Grants
  • Worshiping Communities
  • Current and Past Grants

About

  • Our Mission
  • Diversity and Inclusion
  • Funding and Partners
  • Staff Directory
  • Contact Us

1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA

On the campus of Calvin University

© 2025 Calvin Institute of Christian Worship

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