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.
Story by Tiffany Doss
A plethora of thoughts swarmed around in her head as she entered the church for the first time after her husband’s funeral. Charlotte Conway and her husband, Bob, had been members of Potomac Conference's Sligo church in Takoma Park, Md., for 37 years—but now things were different.
The familiar sense of belonging she embraced every time she walked into the massive edifice to worship was replaced with uncomfortable feelings of loneliness and uncertainty. Conway remembers sitting on “their pew” in “their spot” with tears flowing. Should she stay, or should she go home? The grief was overwhelming.
Story by Salena Featherstone
For three years, Takoma Academy (TA) students have participated in the Health Occupations Students of America (HOSA) organization under the Washington Adventist University HOSA chapter, located in Takoma Park, Md. This year, under the leadership of sponsor Yvette Weir (pictured), TA began its own chapter.
Story by Heidi Shoemaker
Earlier this summer, the Ohio Conference closed on the sale of their former office and two adjoining houses.
“We are praising the Lord,” says Ron Halvorsen Jr., Ohio Conference president. “This has been an answer to prayer,” he says.
Constituents voted an action at the 42nd Regular Constituency Meeting on May 6, 2018, which authorized conference officers, working in concert with both the finance and executive committees, to discontinue use of the Mount Vernon office and to list and sell the property. In June 2019, both the conference finance and executive committees discussed, prayed over and voted in favor of the purchase agreement.