Beware of the "IF Gathering" for Women

Update: I included material from unreliable sources in my first text of this devotion. Please see the notes at the bottom. I ask you to forgive me for sloppy scholarship.

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When it comes to professing Christians, the most dangerous false teachers are not those who are obvious. Most Christians recognize and avoid such people. 

The greatest enemies we face are those teachers who mix a little bit of error with a little bit of truth. Accurately sharing a Scripture along with a lie is always more effective than simply sharing the lie. And if the truth can be watered down a bit, that's even more effective. 

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” Matthew 7:15

The IF Gathering is a yearly presentation that is taped or live-streamed to women’s ministries across the globe. Jennie Allen, the woman who started the ministry, holds some solid biblical views, but she also promotes the enneagram, a New Age tool (See Author Jennie Allen on Toxic Thoughts and the Enneagram and The Enneagram: Cross Examined). While she chooses some good speakers for the IF Gathering, she also chooses some who teach a small mixture of error with truth. And the list often includes a female pastor. See Seeking Scripture in Addressing Role Differences in the Church. 

Currently I'm only offering these two examples until I further verify my sources.

Latasha Morrison is one featured speaker at IF, and she holds a “Christian” form of critical race theory. She teaches communal and ancestral guilt and urges voluntary reparations for the past sins of our ancestors (source). These views mirror culture and often lead to anti-white racism.  

Ironically, while some whites enslaved blacks in the U.S., some whites fought valiantly for their freedom, but CRT makes no distinction. 

Morrison's version of CRT is definitely kinder than culture's version, but it contains elements that aren't biblical.  

For example, if you join her Facebook group, you must “maintain a profile pic or avatar” that reflects your ethnicity. 

And whites are given rules for engaging with POC [people of color], such as:

✔ “Provide space for POCs to wail, cuss, or even yell at you. Jesus didn’t hold back when he saw hypocrisy and oppression; POCs shouldn’t have to either.”   

This makes me genuinely sad to compare anything Christ did to wailing and cussing. And Scripture definitely condemns this type of communication: Colossians 4:6; Ephesians 4:29; 1 Peter 3:15; James 3:17, etc.

✔ “Remain cognizant of the dynamics of white fragility [defensiveness], and take note of how it usually shows up in you.” 

This is a negative judgment based on race, i.e., it's racism. It's no different than lumping all black people into a negative stereotype. 

John 7:24: Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.

Their “Group Rules from Admins” include:

✔ “5. Unity and Uniformity
Unity is not the same as uniformity.​ Please allow people of color in particular to express their feelings without judgment or correction. Keep your focus on listening, understanding, and empathizing with others.”

 

This is favoritism based on color. Instead of helping Christians understand we are all on equal footing in Christ (Galatians 3:28), it creates an inequality based strictly on skin color. 

 

I hate racism, and I have spoken out against it prior to the popularity of CRT, but I believe I have approached it biblically. See Slavery is a Black and White Issue.

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“I urge you, brothers and sisters, to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned. Keep away from them.” Romans 16:17

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Rick Warren is also a featured speaker at IF this year (2025). More than a decade ago, Warren participated in an exchange with Muslim leaders and signed a statement affirming fellowship and mutual goals between the Muslims and Christians: Rick Warren, Emergents, and Muslims;  PDF of document Warren signed. If you are not familiar with the beliefs of Islam, I encourage you to read Remembering the spirit behind 911, and I encourage you to do further study on the teachings of Islam to understand that we could never have true religious fellowship with Muslims, nor should we seek to do so. 

Warren has also been caught lying in regard to his views about gay marriage: Rick Warren's Purpose Driven Pragmatic Deception. 

Most recently, Warren changed his views on women pastors using a false method of scholarship which lets culture define Scripture instead of letting Scripture define culture. See A Well-Known Pastor Changes His View or Rick Warren shares 3 Bible passages that changed his mind on women pastors. 

Many modern Christians are creating new areas of what they call secondary issues. When the Bible was more respected in our churches, secondary issues included differences that were not clearly addressed in Scripture—things such as methods of baptism, communion, church leadership, etc. And there have always been different views of spiritual gifts and God's sovereignty (i.e. Calvinism and non-Calvinist beliefs), but these differences are not based on updating or denying Scriptures. They are based on allowable differences in interpretation.   

But secondary issues shouldn't include beliefs that take Scripture out of context and update it to fit culture (e.g., feminism, women's roles, sexual sins, etc.). Those things should be considered false teachings and primary beliefs for Bible-believing Christians. When a person teaches things which deny or contradict biblical principles, we're called to expose their false doctrines (Ephesians 5:11). We cannot mix human philosophies with biblical truth and expect to grow spiritually (Colossians 2:8). This doesn't mean we mistreat those who hold these beliefs, but neither do we invite them to teach.

When teachers holding these beliefs are mixed in with good teachers, we can expect that many of the women attending will be influenced either at the Gathering or in pursuing the teacher's books and articles.

There are good solid Bible teachers and good ministry materials available through other sources. I encourage you to find other resources than the IF Gathering. 

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NOTES:

I was corrected in regard to several of the women I included in my previous post.

For example, I explained that Jen Hatmaker spoke at the IF Gathering in 2016 and 2018 after she came out in favor of LGBTQ relationships.

However, she only spoke in 2016, and while I'm sure her presence could have encouraged some women to follow her blog and buy her books after that time, I could find no proof that she shared her LGBTQ beliefs at the conference that year. My research shows that she came out publicly in her affirmation of LGBTQ lifestyles in April 2016 (Christianity Today). But she spoke at the IF Gathering a month earlier in February 2016. Even though Jennie Allen explains that Hatmaker is a close friend (Church Leaders), she does not hold Hatmaker's views on LGBTQ issues, and perhaps she wasn't aware of Hatmaker's views when she asked her to speak. And Lifeway didn't officially stop selling her books until October 2016 (Christianity Today).

I ask you to forgive me for sloppy scholarship. I intend to be more careful in future posts. I have double-checked my other links in this post, updated, and verified them. And I've removed some of the content I believe was reliable until I can double-check it and verify it. ~ Gail