Registration Opens for 2026 Parish Development Forum to be Held in Palos Hills IL, July 9-11, 2026
The Diocese of the Midwest announced today that registration is now open for the 2026 Parish Development Forum. The Forum will be held from 1:00 PM on Thursday July 9 through noon on Saturday July 11 2026, at St. Luke’s Church in the Chicago suburb of Palos Hills IL. The Parish Development Forum is a clergy and laity conference dedicated to exploring the challenges facing contemporary Orthodox parishes, delivering actionable ideas and good practices valuable to parish leaders, and creating mutually supportive relationships among participants.
The American and Orthodox “Experiments”
“The 2026 Forum theme is “St. Tikhon’s Vision for the Church in America: An Experiment for Parish Life”, noted Archpriest Stephen Frase, Clergy Chairperson for the Forum. “This theme highlights the union of last year’s 100th anniversary of the repose of Saint Tikhon, Enlightener of North America, and this year’s 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States. Faithful to Orthodox Tradition, yet, adapted to a radically new social environment, St. Tikhon’s vision—an ecclesial experiment with similarities to the American experiment—emphasized English language worship, active lay ministry, conciliar parish and Church governance and leadership, a missional expansion of Orthodoxy through extensive parish planting, an emphasis on adult faith education and laying a foundation for a unified, local, self-governing Church in America. These principles continue to be significant for today’s American parishes.”
“The Parish Development Forum is a conference which encourages discussion of timely topics and discovery of practices used by healthy, vibrant Orthodox parishes,” said Joseph Kormos, Forum lay co-chairperson. “This is the twelfth Parish Development Forum. Past Forums have drawn parish leaders from most OCA Dioceses, the Antiochian Archdiocese, the Greek Archdiocese, Ukrainian Orthodox parishes in the US and Canada and others. The agenda will include keynote presentations, facilitated small group discussion, time to forge interparish connection and relationships and daily worship. Keynote contributors will include Prof. Scott Kenworthy, historian and author of a recent book on the life of St. Tikhon, Archpriest Alexander Rentel, former OCA Chancellor and Professor at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, Father Nicholas Anton of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops in America and others.”
First Parish Development Forum in Chicago
Fr. Paul Jannakos, Rector of host parish St. Luke’s Orthodox Church said, “This is the first time the Parish Development Forum has been held in the Chicago area. Our parishioners are looking forward to welcoming Orthodox Christians from the throughout the Midwest, across the OCA and our friends in other Orthodox jurisdictions. Our parish facilities and location provide an excellent conference setting—only 22 minutes from Chicago’s Midway Airport and ten minutes from I- 294. Over half of the OCA’s parishes are within a manageable drive of our location.”
Conference Registration – Early Bird Discount and Parish Group Discount
Registration is open to clergy and laity from any Orthodox jurisdiction. An “early bird” registration discount of $40 per attendee is available until June 26. After June 26 the registration fee will be $140 per attendee.
Parishes sending four or more attendees can receive a rebate on all attendees. Registration must be done online and is available here. Registration payment can be made by credit card only. To maintain an intimate setting for thoughtful exchange among attendees, Forum attendance will be limited to 80 persons.
A block of hotel rooms has been reserved at and is accessible through the registration landing page site.
Questions and enquiries may be directed to Mr. Kormos at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with the subject “Forum Questions”.