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 deepen congregants’ spiritual engagement in worship and to build bridges between the congregation and community though engagement with visual arts and dance, especially with artists who use the church building.
To deepen community ties and invite other churches into collaboration by hosting art and worship events featuring music, performing arts, and visual arts with activities accessible for all ages.
To engage congregants and the community in worship experiences outside of traditional Sunday services through workshops and small-group worship experiences that incorporate music and the visual and performing arts.
To cultivate practices of embodied worship that reflect the diversity of the congregation and the surrounding community to deepen capacity for communal embodied worship.
To encourage dance as a form of prayer and sacred art in worship through the development of collaborative cross-cultural workshops, meditative performances, and education materials.
To facilitate the active participation in worship of children with hearing impairment by engaging them in expressive dance.
To strengthen the hermeneutical skills, Biblical literacy, and spiritual agency of worshipers through the development of Bibliodrama in a local congregation that will help traumatized people to find themselves within the story of God.
To educate the congregation on a holistic understanding of worship and its intersection with all church ministries and to use drama in public worship and evangelism.
Khalia J. Williams
To explore the theological significance of liturgical dance in Christian worship and to discover and analyze the multiple ways that dance shapes spirituality in worship communities and in individuals.
To promote active involvement and engagement in worship of people with dementia and people with varied abilities through use of drama in worship.
To explore the parables of Jesus in the Gullah translation of the Bible using four art forms, in order to enhance the discipleship, prayer and worship of four congregations.
To deepen worshipers' awareness of the beauty and character of God by engaging various art forms in an intergenerational and ecumenical context on campus and in partner churches.
