Calvin Announces Worship Renewal Grants

May 7, 2007 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Summary: Calvin College is awarding more than $700,000 to almost 60 churches
and organizations across the continent for worship renewal.

Full story, including the complete list of grantees, see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2006-07/worship-grants.htm

Churches and organizations across North America will benefit from the latest
round of worship renewal grants from the Calvin Institute of Christian
Worship.

This year, the program's eighth, CICW is awarding more than $700,000 to
support a variety of worship renewal projects. That money is going to almost 60
different churches and organizations who are thinking about the needs of the
church and opportunities for ministry.

Grant recipients for 2007 represent congregations and schools from 12
denominations in 26 states and two Canadian provinces (this year, CICW received
over 140 proposals from 21 denominations and 35 states and two provinces).

Calvin's John Witvliet is the CICW director and he says the scope of the
proposals and the supported projects is a good reminder that much of the work
of the church today takes place in ways that often are out of the spotlight.

"These projects," he says, "remind us that high profile and cutting edge
ministries are only one part of the vitality of North American Christianity."

The projects envisioned by the 2007 grant recipients offer up vivid testimony
to Witvliet's summation.

In Grand Rapids, Christian Reformed Home Missions will develop worship
resources and support for prisoners in both understanding and participating in
worship by forming relationships between six West Michigan congregations (CRC
and RCA) and worshiping communities in prisons.

An African American Pentecostal congregation in Durham, North Carolina, will
focus worship renewal around the celebration of the Lord's Supper, observance
of the liturgical calendar and the common lectionary.

And Rehoboth Christian Reformed Church in New Mexico will bring together
Native American congregations for a study of the Psalms and consider ways to
incorporate their culture into the worship of the church.

For 2007 grant recipients, their learning begins in earnest this June, when
project directors gather at Calvin College to dialogue with 2006 recipients and
CICW staff.

"We have found that this annual ecumenical gathering of committed, creative
worship leaders provides opportunities to begin collaboration that can continue
long after the grant year," says Betty Grit, program manager of the Worship
Renewal Grants Program.

The Worship Renewal Grants Program is generously supported by
Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. Founded in 1937, the Endowment's major
areas of concern are community development, education, and religion. The next
application deadline for the Worship Renewal Grants Program is January 10,
2008.

Contact Grit at 616-526-8890 or bjg4@calvin.edu

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Received on Mon May 7 14:18:41 2007