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.
Amy McLaughlin-Sheasby
To explore the efficacy of preaching through the lens of affect theory to help preachers think carefully about the extralinguistic properties of proclamation and the ethical questions of the power of preaching.
Kyle Dieleman
To encourage preachers through exploration fo historical and contemporary Advent preaching to consider how preaching can form people for a life in which pacing, expectations, and longings are recast in light of the kingdom of God.
Sarah Travis
To support lay and experienced or retired preachers by developing a pedagogy that prioritizes mutual conversation and consideration of context and social location.
Roland De Vries
To develop a seminary course and book chapter on interculturality in homiletics to equip preachers and emerging preachers to address the increasingly intercultural nature of their communities.
Carolyn B. Helsel
To encourage appreciation among Christian worshipers for our Jewish neighbors and reduce anti-Semitism by creating videos and written resources aimed at equipping preachers to approach biblical references to Jewish people through a framework of gratitude for our shared religious heritage.
Jake Myers
To create a series of free, open-access homiletical education videos that empower and equip bi-vocational preachers for more faithful, creative, and transformative service to the Church.
Sunggu A. Yang
To explore multidimensional preaching practices that meet listeners’ need to see, taste, feel, and even touch the compelling Word of the Triune God, resulting in a handbook to help preachers become more oriented to engaging contemporary listeners.
Sarah Travis
To create and field-test a preaching and liturgical resource addressing reconciliation among Settler Canadians and Indigenous peoples for the Presbyterian Church in Canada, based on two Calls to Action from the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Carla Pezzia and Theodore James Whapham
To survey clergy and congregants regarding the state of homiletics in the Catholic church in order to support Catholic preachers in improving their homilies and leverage liturgical preaching to reconnect with disengaged congregants.
Lis Valle-Ruiz
To study digitally mediated worship and preaching practices as it relates to the embodied experience, presence, and active participation from the perspectives of the worshipers.
Richard Voelz
To create and field-test a workbook that will equip pastors to walk with adolescent preachers as they prepare to preach in public worship and other congregational contexts.
Andrew Hofer, O.P.
To study seven early Christian preachers who model various aspects of "incarnational" preaching and produce a resource encouraging preachers to integrate public speech with all of life.
