Meeting at the Seventh-day Adventist church's world headquarters for annual business meetings, the Executive Committee approved October 13 guidelines for balancing the need for contextualization against possible religious syncretism as the church ramps up outreach to other cultures and religions.

The Roadmap to Mission policy statement comes at a time when religious expressions among Hindus, Buddhists, animists, could be at odds with core Adventist beliefs, leaders said. The document recognizes the need for contextualization of the Adventist faith in various cultures, but urges the church to remain unified.

"There's a line between contextualization and syncretism. With this roadmap to mission we're hoping to guard that line," said Michael Ryan, a general vice president of the Adventist world church.

While writings of other religions can build bridges to the Christian faith, they should be used to "introduce people to the Bible as the inspired Word of God and to help them transfer their allegiance to the Scriptures as the source of faith and practice," the statement says.