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.

Mission Values Priorities

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.

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Story by Mario Thorp

Members of the Cherry Hill church recently celebrated as eight young people, aged 10–16, chose to make their commitment to Christ public through baptism.

Willie Bonilla, church elder, shares that the young people are all members of the same Sabbath School class. When they began talking about baptism, he started a baptismal class. They met together every other Sabbath afternoon from January through July, 2018. Bonilla says, “They all wanted to be baptized to demonstrate their love for Jesus. ... They are excited to begin this new part of their walk with the Lord!”

Sabemos que muchos en nuestra unión se sienten decepcionados con el voto que se tomó en el Concilio Anual para implementar un nuevo sistema de conformidad para las entidades de la iglesia en todo el mundo. Nosotros también. Y si bien somos una parte fiel y leal de la Iglesia de Dios, nos cuesta ver su mano en esta decisión. Nuestra preocupación continúa por la creciente centralización de autoridad en la Conferencia General y la extraterritorialidad administrativa resultante.

Muchos se preguntan qué pasará ahora. En dos semanas, la junta directiva de la División Norteamericana discutirá y decidirá cómo abordar esta situación desafortunada. A su vez, la junta directiva de la Unión de Columbia se reunirá a mediados de noviembre para evaluar cómo abordaremos esta nueva realidad.

Story by V. Michelle Bernard

Adventist Community Services (ACS) and Disaster Response (DR) volunteers continue to operate several distribution operations for relief efforts in North and South Carolina, but Hurricane Michael relief is now at the forefront. Click here for a revised list of distribution sites receiving goods (at the time of article publishing).

Bob Mitchell, Potomac Conference ACS and DR coordinator, Potomac Conference, reports on:

Heather Crews (right), pastor of the Courthouse Road church, baptizes Melissa Winn, who first attended a Christian movie night, one of many events the church hosts to introduce guests to Christ.

Story by Tiffany Doss

Movie and paint nights, quilling and Bible journaling, Financial Peace University seminars and concert series are just a few items on the calendar at the Courthouse Road church, located in North Chesterfield, Va., near Richmond. These events, designed to connect and “build bridges back to God”—the church’s mission statement—continue to foster relationships outside the church walls.

Horacio Hernandez-Ble is the new associate treasurer for the Pennsylvania Conference.

Story byTamyra Horst

The Pennsylvania Conference administrative team recently welcomed Horacio Hernandez-Ble as the new associate treasurer. A graduate of Southern Adventist University (Tenn.), Hernandez-Ble has served on the auditing staff for the General Conference Auditing Service (GCAS) and as an auditing intern for the Georgia-Cumberland Conference. He has also worked for Gospel Ministries International in McDonald, Tenn., and Mile High Academy in Highlands Ranch, Colo.