Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Reflections on Worship Renewal Grants Advisory Board ‘06
We’ve just concluded two days of consultations with our Worship Renewal Grants Advisory Board—a hand-picked group of top-notch liturgical leaders and scholars from a variety of backgrounds around the country. After reading each proposal and evaluating it according to the guidelines of the grant brochure, the board members met here at Calvin to go through each of the more than 180 proposals, assign them rankings based on those guidelines, and make a recommendation about whether or not the proposal is fundable.
Sitting in on much of these discussions, I was struck first of all by the commitment of these board members to not only read each proposal, but really try to understand the vision for worship renewal behind each proposal. I was also struck by their sharp insights into the strengths and weaknesses, limitations and potential, of the proposals.
I couldn’t help but notice how often a comment was made to this effect: “This is an excellent project, but it isn’t tied to worship renewal.” Or: “This is a good idea, but the proposed budget is problematic.” Budgets were a central concern for many of the proposals; the board carefully reviewed each proposed budget to ensure that funds are used to achieve the goals of the project and that the activities are within the guidelines of the grant program.
Other telling comments made over the past two days: “The best proposals are about process” (not a single event). And a comment was made that a grant shouldn’t be seen as a “silver bullet” for worship renewal—to single-handedly bring about renewal by itself—but instead, grants should be seen as catalysts for existing ideas and processes already present in a congregation or community.
The board praised the dedication of Betty Grit, manager of the Worship Renewal Grants Program for the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. The comment was made that while grant proposals make for a few weeks of intensive reading and a couple days of intensive discussion, Betty lives and breathes this program year-round. Grant recipients constantly tell us that Betty’s earnest interest and dedicated communication with them is one of the highlights of the grants process for them. So after this year’s round of advisory board meetings, I’m grateful once again for both the service of the board members and the leadership of Betty.
Related Resource:
What We Have Learned About Worship Renewal From Grant Recipients