Total Member Involvement

Global Total Member Involvement is a biblical strategy for disciple-making evangelism. This initiative of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists calls on every church and every member to become actively involved in making disciples using Christ’s method.

Global TMI Culture and Strategy

Jesus and Paul likened Christ’s method of making disciples to the agricultural growth cycle (see Matt. 9:37, 38; Luke 8:11; 10:2; 1 Cor. 3:6; 2 Cor. 9:6). This biblical analogy can be used to describe five essential phases of disciple-making.

Prepare

The first phase in the disciple-making process is to PREPARE the soil of the heart. When we come close to people in friendship and service, we show that we care and gain their confidence. Ministering to people's practical needs with kindness and compassion prepares their hearts to receive the truth of the gospel.

Plant

After preparing the soil with friendship and service, the next phase of the disciple-making process is to invite people to consider spiritual truth. This can be accomplished by sharing literature or media, by offering Bible studies, or by inviting people to church services and events. The more spiritual seeds we PLANT, the more interested people we will find—and the greater our harvest will be.

Cultivate

After planting the seed of God’s Word, one of the longest and most labor-intensive parts of the disciple-making process comes next—to CULTIVATE spiritual interest. This is best accomplished by engaging in full-message Bible studies while providing friendship, guidance, and spiritual support.

Harvest

After cultivating spiritual interests with Bible studies, it is time to reap a HARVEST of spiritual decisions that culminate in baptism. Full-grown wheat is only a blessing when someone gathers the harvest. In the same way, we are counseled to make appeals to those studying Bible truth, urging them to follow Christ and the light revealed to them.

Preserve

After the joy of the harvest, we must not relax our disciple-making efforts. Jesus called us to make disciples, not mere members. To do so requires that we PRESERVE the harvest through nurture and training after baptism. For the disciple-making process to result in multiplication, we must teach newly baptized church members how to labor for souls.