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 develop long-term habits of spiritual formation through corporate worship in students preparing for cross-cultural service, focusing on the arts and Biblical literacy.
To promote deeper participation in worship by exploring the unique musical contributions of African-American Catholic parishes.
To draw mutually enriching connections between worship and social justice by crafting worship elements that flow out of and deepen worshipers’ participation in justice ministries.
To facilitate meaningful, active participation of the whole community in worship by exploring the role of worship in theological education and methods of digital accessibility.
To form a hospitable communal worship space that welcomes worshipers’ whole selves and celebrates all of the Body of Christ in its diversity by engaging in music, arts, and storytelling.
To engage multicultural worship as a means of reconciliation through immersion experiences that expand students’ awareness of God and will inform their leadership of multicultural worship on campus and at local churches.
To develop in pastoral musicians skills for leading congregational singing that facilitate active participation and transformation in worshipers.
To educate the community and congregation regarding the rich heritage of the African-American worship experience in order to cultivate intergenerational unity.
To develop spiritual habits in students in the context of worship in order to promote a sense of belonging, to deepen transformation, to encourage genuine fellowship, and to tell stories of transformation through the development of Christ-like patterns of living.
To contextualize worship practices in a Navajo church by engaging Scripture in ways reflective of Navajo cultural practices.
To promote healing through trauma-informed worship that connects worshipers with the story of God’s actions in the past and present as a source of hope for God’s continued actions in the future.
To facilitate intergenerational faith formation in worship by creating spaces for learning and collaboration between pastors and lay leaders in ethnically and denominationally diverse congregations.
