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 V. Michelle Bernard
Rubén Ramos, the Columbia Union Conference’s vice president for Multilingual Ministries, regularly hears stories of immigrant members afraid of deportation. One local church leader from Alexandria, Va., recently approached him, asking for prayer after her husband, a legal resident of the United States, was arrested and threatened with deportation. Ramos says she was also worried about her status, but said, “If they deport me. I’ll go to El Salvador and plant another church.”
Henry J. Fordham (pictured speaking above), president of the Allegheny East Conference, shared a story of two members from an Indonesian congregation who were recently arrested after submitting immigration applications. “People are living in fear,” he said. “Our members need to know that we care.”
Story by Tiffany Doss
One year we spent $40,000 on evangelism and community outreach—and zero relationships were built,” recalls Jennifer Deans, pastor of the Living Faith church in Dulles, Va. After attending a church planting conference, Deans realized the church didn’t need a better discipleship program; it needed a paradigm shift. “It’s God’s job to grow the church, and it’s ours to make disciples,” she says. “I came across Generate One, a discipleship program that teaches these biblical principles.”
Editorial by Rick Remmers
Sharing is a special concept. It is similar to giving but with a very different outcome. I enjoy reading and collecting books. If I give a book away, then it belongs to someone else, and I no longer have it. But if I share a book with my wife, then it is something that we can both treasure. We not only enjoy reading the book, but we have the joy of spending time together and the memories of conversations that were sparked by the stories we read.