By Brant Mills
The Texas Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church has received a grant for $22,250 from Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. This grant, awarded under the Vital Preaching Grants Program, aims to support vital worship initiatives in congregations across the Texas Annual Conference for the year 2024.
In a letter to Rev. Melissa Maher, Director of New Ministries Strategies, the institute noted: “The Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants Advisory Board has met and after prayerful consideration, we are so pleased to announce that your grant proposal has been chosen for funding for the upcoming year. We look forward to partnering with you in this year of exploring vital worship.”
“I want to extend our thanks and gratitude for the generosity shown by the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship for their willingness to support the ministry of the Texas Annual Conference by choosing to invest in our sacramental worship practices,” Rev. Maher said.
“The grant will be used to focus in two areas: 1) a spiritual renewal weekend for all laity and clergy in the fall of 2024, and 2) forming a cohort of churches to reimagine our worship liturgies of confession and the sacraments,” Maher continued. “Our United Methodist Book of Worship contains liturgies which ground us in the historic faith and ignite our missional witness. The word liturgy means ‘the work of the people’ and this grant will challenge us to take seriously our covenant to be in connection in prayer and worship.”
If your congregation would like to join the cohort of churches writing new prayers, songs, and liturgies, contact Rev. Maher .
The grant falls under a category titled “Revitalizing Worship in the wake of a church split.” Information about the award is listed on their website at: https://worship.calvin.edu/grants/texas-annual-conference-of-the-umc/
This program is made possible through a Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment Inc.
About Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (CICW), located at Calvin University and Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is an interdisciplinary study and ministry center that promotes the scholarly study of the theology, history, and practice of Christian worship and the renewal of worship in worshiping communities across North America and beyond.
Through the Vital Worship, Vital Preaching Grants Program, the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship (CICW) seeks to foster, strengthen, and sustain well-grounded public worship throughout Canada and the United States.
CICW welcomes grant proposals on a wide range of Christian worship practices. In particular, we invite proposals related to universal design, cultural engagement, preaching, baptism, and the Lord’s Supper.