“IF:One Night” and Jennie Allen’s “voice from the sky”
By Elizabeth Prata
In 2007, Jennie Allen heard a “voice from the sky”. Or it was a whisper. It spoke to her that day. Or it was the middle of the night. Anyway, the whisper told her things. It said, “Gather and equip this generation”. So she obeyed and founded IF:Gathering in 2014.
Ahem, you can see from the dates that there was a delayed reaction to her obedience…
This non-profit organization’s stated main mission is: “TO GATHER, EQUIP AND UNLEASH THE NEXT GENERATION OF PEOPLE TO LIVE OUT THEIR PURPOSE.”
Revenue last year was 11.3 million, expenses were 7.6 million, for a total take of 3.7 million dollars and 6.8 million in assets. (Source).
Their stated three-fold sub-mission is stated as the following:
If Lead: equipping women to share and learn through Christ-centered discussions
If Gather: a two-day gathering that brought thousands of women together in Fort Worth and at local gatherings across the globe. The gathering is a fresh, deep, honest space for a new generation of women to wrestle with the essential question: If God is real… Then what?
If Equip: a holistic, strategic, deep way to connect online with a like-hearted community and relevant resources. We hope to prepare women around the world to know God more deeply and to live out their purposes by sharing comments and feelings about daily passages posted online.
On Friday, February 26, Founder Jennie Allen will host this year’s big event: IF:One Night. On their website it’s stated that IF is not only an event, “but a discipleship ministry focused on putting tools and resources in the hands of women in the church. Through these, IF is able to empower women to reclaim discipleship as God’s means to change the world.”
Before you decide to attend (digitally only, the real life event being held at what I believe is Jennie’s church, Watermark Church in Dallas, is sold out) or before you decide to host a local gathering to stream along the event happening at Watermark Church, think on these things.
-Do you want to trust a founder who listens to voices from the sky? The Lord has ceased speaking directly to individuals. That voice from the sky cold have been anything from bad quesadilla rumblings in the night to demons whispering to her ear.
-Do you want to align with an organization that is based on doubt? “IF” God exists? He does. The entire organization, besides the whispery issue, is founded on doubt and promotes women gathering to obsess over them and their ‘feelings’.
-Do you want to trust an organization who presents to you “Bible” teachers who are apostate, false, and otherwise unhealthy? Slated to teach you at IF:One Night are Francis Chan, Matt Chandler, Lauren Chandler (who loves & partners with false teacher Beth Moore), Jennie Allen, Christine Caine, and others who are proven to be unreliable Bible teachers.
-Do you want to compete with and be drawn away from your own local church? Talk about feelings with strangers with whom you do not connect on a weekly basis over the preached word of God in your own assembly? This is a para-church organization whose intent is to multiply groups away from your local church and to whom you are not accountable as you are to your own elders. Please consider discussing any doubts or fears you have with your own church members. It is what they are there for and how the church grows through the word, fellowship, and discipling.
I’ve written about IF:Gathering negatively since the beginning of their foray into Christianity and women’s minds and hearts. I give you an earnest plea: Avoid IF.
See video clip here where Jennie admitted her impetus for founding IF was a voice from the sky:
