International Leadership

Robert O. Smith is active in many global Christian and interreligious forums. For the World Council of Churches, Robert volunteered as a co-moderator of the Palestine-Israel Ecumenical Forum and moderator of the World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel. He also serves as a special adviser to Bishop Munib Younan, former elected president of the Lutheran World Federation.

Robert was appointed the first academic director of Notre Dame University's Jerusalem Global Gateway. In this capacity Robert served as concurrent faculty in Notre Dame's Department of Theology and Keough School for Global Affairs. As the Gateway’s academic director, Robert worked with Notre Dame colleagues—and with other academic partners from the Middle East and beyond—to increase the University’s international engagement through student programs, research, scholarly conferences and events, and a variety of outreach initiatives.

Prior to his four years living in Jerusalem, Robert was based in Chicago, where he served as Desk Director for Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa in the Global Mission Unit of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In this position, Robert represented the ELCA is a variety of global contexts while overseeing several grant and development processes. While overseeing several staff members and volunteers in various global locations, Robert served as a church diplomat, interfacing with various ecumenical, interreligious, governmental, and academic partners throughout the planet.

Through relationships cultivated with Palestinian church leaders, Robert has come into close relationship with the Royal Court of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Robert works closely with Wasfi Kailani, advisor to HRH Prince Ghazi bin Talal, to develop possibilities for inter religious engagement. At the invitation of HRH Prince Ghazi, Robert served on the executive committee planning an international symposium on Christian Zionism (held January 2025).