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 enlarge worshipers’ understanding of living a sacramental life to include praying through acts of earth care and environmental justice, through crafting creation-focused liturgies, hosting guest speakers, and encouraging environmentally ethical living.
To welcome, represent, and empower people of color and young adults in liturgical and musical leadership by expanding celebrations of nine major feasts and fasts with diverse musical expression and development of thematic seasonal worship series with reflection guides.
To enable the congregation and community to integrate worship into their daily lives by making the cathedral space available and facilitating varied acts of worship for people to engage in the space.
To develop music, art, public ritual, and worshiping vocabulary by and for “exvangelicals” to deepen worshipers’ understanding of God as friend, companion, and liberator.
To create bilingual (Spanish/English) liturgies and music from and for Latino people, especially in the Lutheran tradition, that respect and honor the Latino cultures present in the congregation.
To lean into the practices of confession and witness to heal from denominational hurt and division and to equip churches in the conference for renewed mission.
To help young adults and converts more deeply engage the Orthodox tradition of worship by establishing a training program in chant, iconography, and other liturgical arts.
To deepen worshipers’ understanding of being a baptismal community by creating liturgical resources in celebration of the five hundredth anniversary of the Anabaptist tradition.
To create liturgical resources for a multicultural, multilingual, and multigenerational congregation so this Asian-Canadian congregation can encounter the triune God through words and music.
To implement a mentoring program for worship pastors that focuses on developing liturgical and everyday worship practices to encourage creation care as a way of loving our neighbors and God our creator.
To develop contextualized liturgies for life in the climate crisis through a collaborative learning community and video creation.
Emmanuel Parish
To train worship leaders in the theology and practice of intergenerational and innovative worship (including African music and liturgy, dance, and visual arts) through developing opportunities for education, prayer, and collaborative planning of major festival services.
