Register for the 2026 World Mission Institute (WMI), an annual conference held in the spring since 1970. Each year outstanding international speakers and resource persons deal with a significant aspect of Christian mission. This year’s theme is “Keeping the Faith: Learning from Middle Eastern Christians.” This event will be held both in person and virtually on Thursday, March 12, 2026. In-person attendees are invited to join us for a vegan meal at 5:30 p.m. On the 3^rd floor in the Atrium, followed by the program at 6:30 p.m. in Room 210. A reception will follow the program. Free parking is available in the garage adjacent to the front of the building.

About the Keynote

Keeping the Faith: Learning from Middle Eastern Christians

Mark Swanson will open up the topic of the World Mission Institute through the lens of “From Cairo to Minneapolis.” This phrase describes the resonances between recent learnings about “keeping the faith” in the city of Minneapolis (where he lives now) and what he has learned from the witness of Middle Eastern Christians (especially the Copts of Egypt) over the centuries. Swanson’s contribution will be broadened and deepened by contributions from distinguished panelists.

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Mark N. Swanson

Dr. Mark Swanson, at LSTC since 2006, began his teaching career at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, where he became a student of Arabic Christian literature, especially that of the Copts. One fruit of this: The Coptic Papacy in Islamic Egypt (AUC Press 2010). Mark received his doctorate from the PISAI in Rome. His spouse, the Rev. Dr. Rosanne Swanson, has served as a Lutheran pastor and missionary professor. They recently settled in Minneapolis.

About the World Mission Institute

The purpose of the World Mission Institute is to coordinate resources and build upon them to meet the globalization challenges for ministry, especially in world mission, cross-cultural ministries, interreligious dialogue, urban ministries, issues of justice, peace, and ecology. The institute is sponsored by Catholic Theological Union (CTU), Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (LSTC), and McCormick Theological Seminary (MTS) for more than a half a century.

Panelists

Fr. Jad Chlouk is a Maronite Catholic priest and professor of theology at Holy Apostles College & Seminary, in Cromwell, Connecticut. He specializes in Syriac Christianity and mission studies. His research explores models of intercultural evangelization in Eastern traditions and their relevance for contemporary Church mission.

Fr. Theodore Labib currently serves at Holy Resurrection and St. Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Church in Burr Ridge, IL. He lived in Kuwait, Egypt, and Canada before ordination in 2013, at which time he settled in Chicagoland. He earned a Master of Theological Studies (M.T.S.) from the St. Athanasius and St. Cyril Coptic Orthodox Theological School (ACTS) in Los Angeles, CA.

Ryan LaHurd, Ph.D., retired as President of the James S. Kemper Foundation in Chicago. Previously he was President of the Near East Foundation, an operational foundation doing development work in the Middle East and Africa. Currently he is president of the ELCA’s Association of Lutherans of Arab and Middle Eastern Heritage (ALAMEH).

Carol Schersten LaHurd, Ph.D, serves as Chair of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod (ELCA) Working Group on the Middle East, as volunteer outreach consultant for A Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, and as one of the core leaders of the U.S. Lutheran Palestine-Israel Justice Network (US-LPIJN).