Connecting Columbia Union Seventh-day Adventists

Chesapeake Conference

The Chesapeake Conference has over 13,924 members in 74 congregations (64 churches, 10 companies) in Delaware, Maryland, and on the edges of Virginia and West Virginia. It has a pastoral workforce of 65, and its largest congregation, Spencerville (Silver Spring, Md.) has a membership in excess of 1,719. The Chesapeake Conference operates a strong Christian educational program that includes nearly 100 teachers and more than 1,050 students in 11 schools including one high school, a Pre-K - 12 grade academy, a Pre-K - 10 grade academy and eight elementary schools. It also operates an Adventist Book Center and four Adventist Community Services centers in Maryland and Delaware.

Mt. Aetna Camp and Retreat Center, outside Hagerstown, Md., is a fully-accredited camping and retreat center that hosts more than 700 youth during the conference's annual summer camp program. The site, which houses a nature center with a collection of stuffed animals, birds, insects, and reptiles from around the world, is used for field trips, outdoor learning programs, church retreats, spiritual seminars, and camping and hiking excursions.

Photo by Glendale United Methodist in Nashvillle Church via Flickr

5 Tips for Creating a Visitor-Friendly Church  

1. Spruce Up Your Website

“A church’s website is the new ‘first impression’ that visitors receive,” says Gary Gibbs, Chesapeake’s ministerial director. “Therefore, it is vital that the website be attractive, easy to navigate and have current information.”  

The General Conference recently convened a conference in South Africa to discuss “alternative sexualities” with 350 invited church workers, scholars and leaders of several supporting ministries from around the world. The Visitor plans to discuss the results of the meetings in our July issue. Below Columbia Union members react to the meeting: