Vital Worship Grant Projects
Environmentalism (2022-2023)
We implemented a project that brought environmentalism to the forefront of our worship practices in order to promote a lifestyle of daily earth-keeping within our congregation. We did this because addressing climate change and care for the environment is one of the greatest and most pressing ways we can care for our neighbor.
Highlight: Climate Action Concert with Semler
City Chapel partnered with East Church UCC to present a Climate Action Concert featuring Semler with special guests Laura Hobson and Jack Droppers. This night of music provided opportunities to hear from local environmental groups (GR Climate Coalition, Plaster Creek Stewards, & more) about how to get involved in Grand Rapids.
City Chapel has been given these Vital Worship Grants through the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.
“Ocean Surf” by Jacob Townley, Artist in Residence
Art & Creativity (2018-2019)
Because we saw artists as disconnected from and marginalized by the church, City Chapel crafted this project in order to help establish our church community as a community of worshiping artists and a resource for other established churches looking to create a community of worshiping artists. We have done this with the hope that art and creativity can be understood as an equal form of worship and robust theology.
To do this, we focused on three main areas of interaction with the local arts:
Commissioning local artist to create within their own creative vision
Hosting a variety of arts conversations and workshops in Grand Rapids, MI
Welcoming the work of local artists into the liturgical rhythms of City Chapel
“A Dinnertime Lament” painting by Bizzy Feekes-Hulsether (Poem titled the same in the “Where We Stand” publication by Mae Stier)
A Church In Lament (2020-2021)
Because we see lament as largely missing from the lived rhythms of the church in North America, we implemented a project that provided space for congregants and artists to imagine new ways forward through dialogue and practice. Our hope was to elevate the leadership of artists and the voices of those suffering in guiding the church toward a better understanding of the practice of lament.
