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 help children explore and experience worship through enhancing resources for children in worship and creating a framework to help congregations implement the resources.
To design worship and curriculum that emphasizes the unity of the body of Christ and the richness of differing worship styles across racial and cultural lines through building relationships with families and the worship team of Angel Community Church.
To train youth to create and lead worship in music, proclamation, and liturgy and to help congregation members to more deeply appreciate the needs, concerns, and life of youth both in the church and the community.
To introduce multisensory worship, to study the meaning of the seasons of Advent and Lent, to invite Asian American congregants, especially children and youth, to learn about Asian puppetry and create puppets and dramas with seasonal themes, and to integrate this learning in worship services during Advent and Lent.
To empower young people to add rhythm, melody, and harmony to familiar and favorite Scripture passages with the goal of incorporating the resulting music in weekly worship services.
To create multigenerational worship teams that engage in an educational process to learn from each other and work together to plan and lead weekly worship services.
To train youth and children in planning, leading, and facilitating intergenerational worship services that integrate art, dance, drama, scripture, story, and song.
To train congregants to tell both the biblical stories and their own faith story in fresh and lively ways through drama, images, movement, and storytelling in corporate worship.
To teach children the structure of worship, develop their skills for leading various aspects of worship, provide them with experiences of various worship-related arts, and work with them to prepare worship services through Summer Worship, Arts, and Music Camps.
To provide experiences and guidance through lectionary-based activities enabling participants of all ages and abilities to discover their own gifts and employ them in worship services within an urban community.
To investigate and implement ways in which participation in formal worship can be made increasingly accessible to children and youth.
To cultivate active youth leadership and participation in worship in the local church through the development and implementation of a Worship Leadership Training Program for Youth and Young Adults.
