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 build relationships around the table by exploring a dinner church format and by reflecting on Scripture to create new songs that represent this expression of worship.
To strengthen the role of testimony in worship by helping worshipers tell their stories through visual art, original song, and written narrative.
To create a robust sending rite that empowers and commissions worshipers to engage God’s work in the world in their daily lives.
To develop in pastoral musicians skills for leading congregational singing that facilitate active participation and transformation in worshipers.
To increase worshipers’ experience of the beauty of God by equipping churches with tools and with skilled leaders that will continue the rich tradition of chant, iconography, woodworking, and textiles in Orthodox worship.
To deepen worshipers’ love of God and neighbor through disciplined improvisations of jazz in worship.
To fully integrate the arts in the worship life of the church through collaboration among liturgists, musicians, and visual artists, in order to express and embody the attributes of God and the identity of worshipers’ as God’s beloved people.
To enrich worship by exploring the ways that music, dance, and visual arts support both formative and expressive aspects of gathered worship.
To deepen worshipers’ understanding of the triune God by engaging in and reflecting on the dynamism of jazz music in Christian liturgy.
To cultivate in children an awareness of the beauty of God in worship while teaching them skills for leading worship through music, dance, and visual arts.
To reflect on Scripture and culture in order to compose songs and worship expressions that are fitting to a multicultural urban congregational context.
To enrich worship by collaboratively creating artistic liturgical resources inspired by the book of Revelation in order to promote a rich engagement with Scripture.
