1855 Knollcrest Circle SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546-4402 USA

On the campus of Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary
© 2025 91ÁÔÆæ
CICW has awarded Vital 91ÁÔÆæ, 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 small congregations cultivate the practice of identifying and witnessing to God’s work in their communities by training pastors and church leaders in the practice of narrative worship.
To study and practice blessing one another and the wider community by emphasizing the theology of blessing in worship and by practicing embodied blessing of others in outdoor venues.
To deepen worshipers' experience of the beauty and majesty of God in this church's unique space by engaging with the stories of the art glass windows lining the worship space.
To welcome, represent, and empower people of color and young adults in liturgical and musical leadership by expanding celebrations of nine major feasts and fasts with diverse musical expression and development of thematic seasonal worship series with reflection guides.
To promote active intergenerational participation in worship by developing and promoting a homiletical method that encourages wondering, storytelling, and godly play.
To create an expression of worship that increases authenticity, reduces barriers, and provides diverse forms of music and speech by engaging in interviews, focus groups, and team studies that expand theological and aesthetic understanding of worship.
To encourage dance as a form of prayer and sacred art in worship through the development of collaborative cross-cultural workshops, meditative performances, and education materials.
To engage the neighborhood community with radical hospitality through creative worship by establishing an arts residency program and community arts events.
To enable the congregation and community to integrate worship into their daily lives by making the cathedral space available and facilitating varied acts of worship for people to engage in the space.
To translate and publish a hymnal of bilingual Kreyol-English songs for use by new Haitian-Americans and neighboring church communities as a way to welcome and embrace one another through congregational song.
To explore the role of music in Orthodox theological education in the midst of significant cultural and demographic changes and to develop a multicultural chant handbook that reflects the theological vision and demographic of the community and will facilitate spiritual formation.
To develop music, art, public ritual, and worshiping vocabulary by and for “exvangelicals” to deepen worshipers’ understanding of God as friend, companion, and liberator.
