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.

Learn More

Story by Visitor Staff

Ricardo Bacchus (pictured) joined the Visitor staff this week. Bacchus will serve as assistant director of the Columbia Union Conference Communication Department and assistant Visitor editor, coordinating and editing the conference and academy newsletters in each issue. He previously worked at the General Conference, helping to coordinate and edit Elder’s Digest and Collegiate Quarterly.

Story by WAU Staff

Washington Adventist University (WAU) is now a participant in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement (SARA), which allows the school to offer its online courses and degree programs to students outside of the State of Maryland. SARA establishes national standards for the interstate offering of postsecondary distance education programs, and WAU is authorized to accept students into its online programs from other SARA member states and institutions.

Phone volunteers take gifts with a mile in during the WGTS 91.9 Fall Fundraiser.

Story by WGTS Staff

Close to 4,000 WGTS 91.9 listeners cast a vote of support for the station during the media ministry’s recent Fall Fundraiser.  Listeners enjoyed four days of stories from fellow listeners about how God is using the station to help change lives.  A pivotal moment of the event was when Washington Redskins Quarterback Kirk Cousins and a team of anonymous donors put up a match challenge of $41,000, which listeners more than doubled in the course of an hour.   WGTS 91.9 finished the fundraising event with 100 percent of the goal.  This was the largest fundraising event in the station’s history.

Washington Adventist University (WAU) is ranked tenth among the top 19 "Safest Colleges in Maryland" by BackgroundChecks.org in its recently-released 2016 annual report on accredited public and private not-for-profit educational institutions that offer four-year degrees. BackgroundChecks.org is a public safety-focused organization that is committed to increasing safety, community involvement, transparent government and education.

The safest colleges rankings are based on campus crime rates per l,000 residents, as well as on recent Department of Education reports, social media analysis, natural language analysis and research.