Worship Institute Awards Grants

The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (CICW) will be funding 51 Vital Worship Grants projects to worshiping communities for 2019-2020 as part of its Vital Worship Grants Program.

These projects have a variety of emphases—visual arts, storytelling, multicultural worship, digital media, the Lord’s Supper, and more—but have as a common purpose a desire to both deepen people’s understanding of worship and strengthen practices of public worship and faith formation.

Kathy Smith, leader of the Vital Worship Grants team, said, “We are delighted to join with another group of churches, schools, and organizations to learn about and engage in new practices of worship.”

This year’s recipients include 34 congregations, three elementary and/or secondary schools, two colleges and universities, three seminaries, and nine other groups, including five church collaboratives, two parachurch disability ministries, a military ministry, and a storytelling ministry. They also represent 23 Christian denominations, 22 states, and two Canadian provinces.

Ranging from $7,000 to $18,000, each grant will fund a year-long project beginning in June 2019 that promotes vital worship and faith formation.

John Witvliet, CICW director, said that the 2019 projects will help the Worship Institute in its goals to enhance the scholarly study of Christian worship and the renewal of worshiping communities across North America and beyond.

“We learn a tremendous amount from these programs,” he said. “We look forward to sharing insights from these projects with a larger audience in our future programming over the next several years."

This June, project directors and representatives of all 51 grant projects will gather on the Calvin College campus to dialogue not only with CICW staff but also with 14 recipients of new grants to Teacher-Scholars as well as recipients of the 2018 Worshiping Communities grants, who will come to campus to share the results of their year-long projects at a poster session open to the public 5:00-6:30 p.m., Wed., June 26, 2019.

“The grants event is always an energizing time of conversation and sharing stories,” said Smith. “Every year, some attendees are inspired to write their own proposals for new grant projects. We look forward to receiving those applications for the next round of grants” (due Jan. 10, 2020).

Since it began in the year 2000, the Vital Worship Grants Program has now awarded 887 grants to churches, schools, and organizations across North America for projects that generate thoughtfulness and energy for public worship and faith formation at the local, grassroots level.

An advisory board of pastors and teachers from a variety of backgrounds assists in the grant selections, and the program is generously supported by Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc.

Founded in 1937, the Endowment’s major areas of programming are religion, education, and community development.

For more information on the grants program, including a complete list of this year’s grants recipients, please see worship.calvin.edu/grants.