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.

Youth
Select Year
Select State/Province
Teacher-Scholar Cultural Engagement Music

Candler School of Theology

Jonathan Calvillo

To examine how hip-hop can be a resource for building spiritual community among Latinx diaspora by modeling how to integrate experiences of race, social engagement, and spiritual support in ministry with youth.

Teacher-Scholar
Atlanta, georgia
2024
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Teacher-Scholar Youth

Samford University

Nelson Cowan

To equip churches to better understand youths’ motivations for participation in worship by conducting a qualitative study of their attitudes toward diverse liturgical forms, their responses to liturgical change, and their participation in public Christian worship.

Teacher-Scholar
Birmingham, alabama
2024
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Teacher-Scholar Youth

Providence College

Daria Spezzano

To draw on the teachings of Thomas Aquinas to provide tools for disaffiliated Catholic college students to engage the goodness, truth, and beauty of God in worship as a response to their search for meaning. 

Teacher-Scholar
Providence, rhode island
2023
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Teacher-Scholar Missional Youth

Fuller Youth Institute

Tyler Greenway

To investigate the perceptions of public worship practices among young people who do not regularly attend worship services, in order to provide insight to Christian worshiping communities as they seek to better understand the life narratives of this population.

Teacher-Scholar
Wayland, michigan
2020
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Teacher-Scholar Formation Worship Practices

Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Mimi Larson

To gather wisdom from ministry leaders who thoughtfully engage children in worship, seeking to better theological and pedagogical understanding of how children make meaning of their worship experiences.

Teacher-Scholar
Wheaton, illinois
2020
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Teacher-Scholar Preaching Youth

Union Presbyterian Seminary

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.

Teacher-Scholar
Richmond, virginia
2020
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