Read articles from the November/December 2025 Visitor here.
Who We Are, How We Serve
The Columbia Union Conference coordinates the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s work in the Mid-Atlantic United States, where 150,000 members worship in 860 congregations. We provide administrative support to eight conferences; two healthcare networks; 81 early childhood, elementary and secondary schools; a liberal arts university; a health sciences college; a 49 community services centers; 8 camps; 5 book and health food stores and a radio station.
We Believe
God is love, power, and splendor—and God is a mystery. His ways are far beyond us, but He still reaches out to us. God is infinite yet intimate, three yet one,
all-knowing yet all-forgiving.
In a world that can often feel lonely or uncertain, many long for the assurance that we are never alone. Here, we share stories of those who found a welcoming spiritual home.
Story by Amanda Blake
Romita Mandal had known Mr. Matthie for more than a decade. He’d been her elementary and middle school strings director, and, when she reached high school, her private violin instructor.
“Sometimes, we wouldn’t unpack the violin,” she shares. “Sometimes, I would just have a breakdown on the couch, and he would help me and be a mentor.”
Finding Home
Mandal grew up with a Hindu mom and an atheist dad. She aligned more with her dad, whom she describes as scientifically minded with no space for spirituality—yet, unlike him, Mandal believed that God existed.
Mandal independently studied parts of the Bible, including the Ten Commandments, and found it puzzling that churches didn’t worship on the seventh day.
One day, after speaking with Mandal about God, Matthie offered to spend time with her to answer any “God questions” she might have. She accepted, and they eventually began studying the Bible together once a week.
Illustration by Brooklyne Nickell
Thanksgiving and Christmas are awesome times to celebrate with family and friends! Many churches like to decorate, distribute food baskets and remember Jesus’ birth.
You can also help families all over the world by sponsoring gifts from ADRA’s 2025 Gift Catalog at giftcatalog.adra.org!
Check out the scene below, and see if you can find these hidden items inspired by gifts in the catalog: Blanket, Baby Chick, Goat, Honeybee, Seed packets, Water Bucket
The Association of Adventist Women (AAW) recently awarded Griselda Jobe the 2025 Junia Award for pioneering work in rural pastoral ministry. She is the lead pastor of Potomac Conference’s Martinsville and Piney Forest churches in Virginia.
“Griselda Jobe received the Junia Award for pioneering work as one of a few ordained female lead pastors in a rural multi-church district in the North American Division,” states Nerida Bates, president of AAW.
Columbia Union Conference’s Office of Multilingual Ministries recently helped facilitate the distribution of 152,849 books to conferences in the Columbia Union.
The 15,520 small Bibles, 86,400 Steps to Christ in Spanish, 50,600 Steps to Christ in English and 329 family Bibles books were distributed to pastors, who then shared them with church and community members.