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.

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Emory University Candler School of Theology

Susan Bigelow Reynolds

To study public, lay-led Way of the Cross (Via Crucis) rituals that engage contemporary social injustices in light of the cross, exploring how communities on the margins of church and society use public ritual to practice theological agency.

Teacher-Scholar
Atlanta, georgia
2022

First Presbyterian Church of Holt

To invite worshipers into reflection on traditions of liturgical art that facilitates engagement with wonder and the beauty of God, culminating in the collaborative creation of paraments for the worship space.

Worshiping Communities
Holt, michigan
2022

Holy Cross Lutheran Church (2022)

To deepen, enrich, and connect the individual and corporate worship life of congregants by drawing on the devotional practices of the saints throughout history in aesthetically rich and cohesive worship experiences that have corresponding practices which engage the senses and foster embodied devotional practices at home.

Worshiping Communities
St. Louis, missouri
2022

Hope College

David Keep

To deepen worshipers' theology and spiritual life by creating an online Advent calendar that features visual art and music, and by holding art interpretation events and panel discussions in which participants engage theological truths—particularly the incarnation—through the arts.

Teacher-Scholar
Holland, michigan
2022

Hope College

Kate Finley

To explore how public church practices, including sermons, corporate prayer, and other worship practices reflect various understandings and interpretations of mental disorders and to construct a practically applicable online resource that will enable congregations to be more inclusive of those who experience mental disorder and enriched by the unique perspectives they embody.

Teacher-Scholar
Holland, michigan
2022


Iglesia One Family Church

To develop training workshops in the arts to educate the congregation on the meaning of integral worship and to develop practical workshops on music and singing for worship leaders to enhance bilingual public worship.

Worshiping Communities
Orlando, florida
2022