Grants Support Vital Worship

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (CICW) has awarded a new round of Vital Worship, Vital Preaching grants to 62 new projects across the United States and Canada. These funds will support new and exciting efforts to enrich Christian worship, teaching, and preaching in diverse contexts across North America.

The one-year grants—up to $25,000 each—will fund initiatives launching on Aug. 1, 2025. In addition, a second granting cycle will begin this fall, with proposals due by Oct. 15 for projects slated to begin Jan. 1. 

The current round of funding includes 52 worshiping communities and 10 teacher-scholars. The division of funds reflects CICW’s dual commitment to the renewal of public worship and the scholarly study of worship practices. The funds also reflect CICW’s commitment to diversity. While some of the recipients are Christian Reformed, others reflect a wide array of Christian traditions, denominations, and settings—from urban churches to rural congregations and from academic institutions to community nonprofits.

“Our mission at CICW is to promote the scholarly study of the theology, history, and practice of Christian worship and the renewal of worship in worshiping communities across the U.S. and Canada,” explained Kathy Smith, interim director of CICW and program manager for the grants. “The two streams of grants help us accomplish the two foci of our mission, and they build upon each other.”

Grant recipients include churches, seminaries, schools, denominational ministries, retreat centers, and nonprofits. The themes associated with their proposed plans include multicultural and multilingual worship, trauma healing, storytelling, creative arts, lay leadership, and hospitality in public worship.

Calvin University Faculty among Teacher-Scholar Recipients

The teacher-scholar stream of grants recognizes the unique role that teachers and scholars from a variety of disciplines can play in strengthening Christian worship. Of the ten recipients, all of whom work in universities and seminaries, two are professors at Calvin University.

• Dr. Clair Mesick, assistant professor of religion, will use the funding to explore New Testament texts on despair, suicide, and mental illness (historically referred to as “madness”) in their original historical and cultural contexts. Her project includes collaboration with pastoral care and mental health experts and will culminate in developing preaching resources that avoid the stigmatization of mental illness and encourage compassionate, theologically grounded engagement with individuals who have mental illness.
• Professor Forrest Wakeman, assistant professor of music and a composer, will lead preparations for the premiere of a large-scale choral and orchestral work based on Old Testament prophetic texts. The project envisions a musical dialogue between God and God’s people, designed to encourage deeper appreciation of God’s redemptive pursuit and to engage worshipers through study, rehearsal, and performance.

Other recipients work or study at institutions in Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. 

Innovative Projects from Worshiping Communities

In the worshiping communities stream, CICW vital worship grants will support projects such as the following:

• a monthly dinner church for spiritually curious young adults
• a multicultural preaching and worship lab
• a worship discipleship program featuring youth-led services, storytelling, spoken word, and liturgical dance
• worship resources tailored for people with dementia or varied abilities
• a songwriting collective creating original music centered on justice, peace, and contemplation
• a cohort for under-resourced Filipino American pastors
• creative approaches to reimagining the Lord’s Supper in connection with cultural heritage observances

Among the grantees are also some Christian schools, university chaplain programs, and congregations affiliated with the Christian Reformed Church in North America. Cohort Detroit, for example, is a Resonate Global Mission opportunity for young adults to live in community, serve in a grassroots ministry, and engage in deep spiritual formation and conversations about justice. They will use their vital worship grant to foster practices of lament, contemplation, and engagement with the arts in worship. Their project includes learning trips, coaching, and resource sharing with partner congregations—modeling how collaborative learning can lead to deeper and more expressive worship.

Christ Church of Davis (Calif.) is a Christian Reformed congregation that will use their funds to encourage thoughtful reflection on current worship practices by gathering a cohort of pastors to explore a comprehensive, contextualized, and historically rooted philosophy of worship and ministry.

Other recipients come from a variety of denominations and nonprofit ministries from 25 U.S. states or territories and four Canadian provinces. 

“We are grateful to partner with these teacher-scholars and worshiping communities as they study and promote the renewal of Christian worship in so many places,” said Smith. “Our goal is to nurture long-term, spiritually nourishing worship habits—practices that deepen congregations’ healing presence in the world.”

Since its founding in 2000, the Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants Program, which is generously supported by Lilly Endowment Inc., has awarded more than 1,000 grants to support thoughtful, grassroots-level renewal in Christian worship throughout the U.S. and Canada.

“We hope that you will be encouraged to hear how this program promotes the enrichment of Christian worship in a wide variety of ways,” Smith added, “and that you will consider applying for a grant as well!”

Learn more about the Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants Program and explore a full list of current and past recipients at worship.calvin.edu/grants.