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Vital 91, Vital Preaching grants support innovative projects for worshiping communities and teacher-scholars in the United States and Canada.
In our latest round of awards in the Vital 91, Vital Preaching Grants Program, the 91 (CICW) has funded 34 yearlong projects aimed at strengthening Christian worship practices and preaching in the United States and Canada.
These new awards of up to $25,000 support thoughtful, innovative projects for eight teacher-scholars working in various academic disciplines and 26 worshiping communities from diverse Christian traditions and denominations.
The next Vital 91, Vital Preaching grant proposal due date for both teacher-scholars and worshiping communities is April 25, 2025, with funded projects slated to begin July 15, 2025.
Common themes in the latest round of grant projects include peacemaking, trauma healing, multicultural worship, inclusive worship, intergenerational worship, and the arts in worship.
“We are grateful for these thoughtful projects that will address important topics churches are dealing with in these times. We hope they will experience learning and healing through their worship,” said Kathy Smith, program manager for the grants program and CICW senior associate director.
The grant program’s teacher-scholars stream recognizes the unique role that teacher-scholars working in a range of disciplines can play in strengthening Christian worship. The eight new teacher-scholar grantees, who work in universities and seminaries, will conduct projects such as:
Examining the role of public prayer in a worshiping community’s social witness
Helping congregations understand what happens to biblical texts when they are set to music
Understanding the experiences of individuals who attend multicultural churches
Exploring how preaching influences behavior, emotions, and beliefs
The grant program’s worshiping communities stream awards grants to organizations such as churches, denominational ministries, seminaries, universities, retreat centers, senior living communities, and other nonprofits. The topics of newly funded projects include:
Enhancing the resilience of an intergenerational immigrant community learning to live in a new place as disciples of Christ
Promoting understanding of historical racial disparities through guided on-campus conversations spurred by the arts
Providing a safe, artistic space for biblical reflection to help marginalized women heal inner wounds, reframe their stories, and write prayers and litanies
Increasing access to public worship for families affected by disability or trauma
Collaboratively producing short films on contemporary issues for integration into worship services
Introducing nature-based outdoor scripture study in an alternative worshiping community
Implementing a gospel jazz worship service as an inclusive space for diverse people
Expanding intergenerational, multicultural worship through art, music, technology, and dance
Renewing worship in an African American community by focusing on prayer as a force for healing and empowerment
Deepening the faith and impact of a worshiping community by studying and practicing storytelling
Through their varied approaches, these new projects all aim to strengthen practices of worship, preaching, and faith formation in communities of worshipers.
“It’s inspiring to see pastoral leaders and teacher-scholars who are eager to promote vital congregational life in their local contexts and to engage Christian faith and life more deeply,” said John Witvliet, CICW director. “We look forward to learning from each of these grantees.”
Since its beginning in the year 2000, the Vital 91, Vital Preaching Grants Program has awarded more than a thousand one-year grants to worshiping communities (churches, schools, and other organizations) and teacher-scholars in various disciplines across the United States and Canada. The grants fund thoughtful, creative projects that promote renewal in public worship and faith formation at the local level. In 2023, the program launched an invitational Spanish-language grant program for Hispanic worshiping communities in the United States, including Puerto Rico. The Vital 91, Vital Preaching Grants program is generously supported by Indianapolis-based .
For more information about the Vital 91, Vital Preaching Grants program, visit worship.calvin.edu/grants/info. To see a list of current and past grant recipients, visit worship.calvin.edu/grants/recipients.
