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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Book Release: Hope for Today's Families

Interview by Anna Bartlett

Written to meet perhaps one of today’s strongest felt needs, Hope for Today’s Families is the 2019 sharing book for the Seventh-day Adventist world church.

We interviewed authors Willie and Elaine Oliver, director and associate director of the Family Ministries Department at the General Conference to learn more about the book and biggest challenges facing families today.

 Read our interview below:

Visitor: What do you think are some of the biggest challenges facing families today?

Adventist Mission Launches First Teen Mission Film Contest

Story by Kayla Ewert

Following the popular My Story, My Mission film contest for college students comes the #FollowHim film contest exclusively for young people aged 18 years old and younger. Adventist Mission invites youth around the world to creatively express, in one minute or less, what it means to follow Christ in a mission-focused life.

This contest is for youth who meet the age requirements and self-identify as Adventist or attend Adventist-affiliated schools. To ensure eligibility, entrants are asked to refer to the entry rules. Films must be submitted online at AdventistMission.org/FollowHim by March 31, 2019.

ADRA Launches "Every Child. Everywhere. In School." Global Advocacy Campaign

Jonathan Duffy

Story by Kimi-Roux James

Today the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) announced a new global advocacy campaign, “Every Child. Everywhere. In School.” The campaign is an urgent call to leaders around the world that all children, regardless of race, age, nationality, gender, religion or origin, have a right to earn and complete an education, and that being in school is a recognition of the value and potential of each individual child. 

Editorial: Even the Little Things Matter to God

Image by Michael Coghlan from FlickrEditorial by Elaine Buchanan/ Image by Michael Coghlan on Flickr

When I became a Seventh-day Adventist several years ago, one element of the church struck me as really strange: prayer. Little did I know how much prayer would impact my life over the next 20 years.

A few years ago, my pastor/husband and I were transferred to our third district in the Mountain View Conference. I began looking online for houses, but we couldn’t agree on many of them. We made a trip to our new district, got in touch with a realtor and sent him our list of about 15 homes. He scheduled a four-hour time slot for us.