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 facilitate cross-cultural reflection on Messianic biblical texts in music, preaching, teaching and liturgical application through curriculum, chapel services, weekend retreats for students and faculty and a worship symposium in a multicultural environment with a commitment to cross-cultural competence.
To offer a year-long guided exploration of the book of Psalms through workshops in dance, public reading of Scripture, theater, movement, painting, sculpture, photography and memorization that will bridge racial, generational and socio-economic obstacles in a diverse and multiethnic community.
To dwell in the Psalms as the yearly chapel theme that will include book studies, guest speakers and a Psalmfest with the expectation that a new understanding of the breadth and depth of the Psalms will result in greater and fuller worship participation using drama, music and visual arts in an ethnically and denominationally diverse K-12 school.
To engage students and faculty mentors in a year-long process to plan monthly chapel services, engage in theological and practical reflection on previous services and study broader issues related to worship through book discussion and guest-led workshops that will strengthen congregational singing, increase use of culturally/globally diverse liturgical resources and engagement with the whole person through multi-sensory worship practices.
To equip 30 leaders at the local parish level to become cultural mentors to parish liturgy committees in order to help local parishes learn how to worship together as multicultural communities in an area where worship is celebrated in over 40 different languages every Sunday.
To offer workshops and a focus on the Psalms that will create worship habits infused with multicultural voices expressed in music, storytelling, dance, drama and preaching in a growing and increasingly diverse congregation.
To engage the congregation in learning about the intersection of faith and community in partnership with their pastor who will be studying these communities and their worship as part of a Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Grant and together implement this new learning in worship when the pastor returns from her sabbatical.
To engage the congregation in a process of learning through book study groups, workshops and small group conversations that will reflect on their history and explore what it means to be a multi-cultural and multi-racial congregation in a community of rapidly shifting demographics.
To explore multi-cultural worship practices, resources and worship leadership that will help the congregation engage with people of other traditions in their community and around the world.
To train student chapel leaders, staff and the school community in worship from a variety of Christian contexts that will shape worship in chapel to reflect the 56% ethnic minorities and 275 different churches represented in the student body.
To engage the congregation in learning about diverse cultural and linguistic worship resources such as music, visual art and dance and to use them in worship to better reflect the growing diversity in the community and in the congregation.
To create liturgies and other worship resources that will assist multicultural communities to bridge the gap between English and Spanish speaking worshipers and to offer workshops that will guide congregations in the use of the resources.
