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 teach the congregation global, bilingual songs using the Vertical Habits of worship that will develop a pattern of intergenerational and multicultural worship and reflect the diversity of the congregation and the community.
To explore diverse traditions, stories and artistic expressions with children, youth and adults who represent multiple cultures, socioeconomic class and denominational traditions and incorporate the learning into worship.
To create worship services that expand the range of music, visual art and technology used in worship, incorporate the gifts of lay leaders in worship planning and reflect their multicultural community.
To explore new music, dance and drama that will deepen worship and bridge racial, cultural and generational divides to promote unity among people in the congregation who represent 40 different countries and meet in several locations.
To explore how worship can reflect the rich diversity of the community through a study of worship space, the Lord’s Supper, liturgy, language and music.
To create worship that both reflects and helps form the unique multicultural congregation by recovering authentic indigenous worship materials and creating art, worship environments, music and educational experiences that reflect the worship traditions, theologies, pieties and vocabularies of the community.
To form multigenerational, multicultural teams in which participants can explore how their gifts can be used in worship through music and the arts.
To create visual art for worship that communicates the core values of the church by training and equipping artists in the congregation through lectures, study and devotional resources.
To engage adults and children in exploring music and liturgical art in worship through an intergenerational, multi-sensory all-church retreat and monthly workshops.
To study and practice ways technology and movement can be integrated in worship while maintaining its historical identity and connecting with postmodern culture.
To encourage interaction with scripture and the preached word through journals, lectio divina, prayer, inductive Bible studies, and Asian art with particular attention to unity across ages and cultures in a traditional Japanese American congregation.
To design multi-sensory, interactive, communal worship experiences that bridge the church community with the diverse, emerging, post modern culture.
