How to Talk to Your Friends About the IF:Ministry

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There really is not a lot (at least from what I have seen) of people warning about the IF: Gathering and Jennie Allen’s ministry. You can find a lot of discernment articles and videos critiquing word of faith, hyper charismatic, and deliverance ministry teachers. It is easier to find false teaching spewing from their mouths and coming from their pulpits, but when it comes to popular evangelical teachers such as Jennie Allen and the IF:Gathering Speakers, the teachings are more subtle and the error is not so visible. (To understand the errors in this ministry cheeck out the Thoroughly Equipped podcast season 2) 

One error is the action of rebellion among women who seem genuinely to care for discipleship yet don’t obey Christ when it comes to His instructions regarding authority and the office of pastor. But you wouldn’t know this unless you first understood Scripture’s teaching on women teaching and having authority over men AND have researched these teachers to see where they have spoken at. 

But the main error is the platforming of false teachers that artfully interweave falsehoods into the training of disciples BECAUSE they do not believe Scripture is sufficient and authoritative for women. If Scripture is not the ultimate authority and is not sufficient to disciple a woman then the teacher will take on man’s so-called wisdom and knowledge to supplement what they believe Scripture is lacking; or give their own wisdom and instruction. This too, would take a lot of reading and research since this error will not be readily visible in a presentation at the IF:Gathering. You would have to read their studies and dive more into their teachings.

Both the exalting of female so-called “pastors” and promoting of ministries that teach false teaching; all of it spring forth from a lack of believing that Scripture is sufficient to disciple God’s women. And their actions and lack of belief train the women who attend and the churches that use IF:’s resources to depend on other authorities besides Scripture to equip women.

Ladies, we need to start talking about the IF: Ministry and all those involved in it. We need to hold up Scripture alone as our tool for life and godliness, and start calling out other women who teach contrary to it. We need to lovingly call out those who learn from teachers who mix man’s wisdom with God’s wisdom, who joins Christ with Belial, who unites the temple of God with the temple of idols in agreement (2Corin.6:14-15). 

Jude tells us in vs 22-23 to… have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

Ministries like IF: occasionally preach Christ and Him crucified, but the bulk of their teaching is about you and your purpose. So if you have listened to the episodes on T.E. centered on Jennie Allen’s IF:Ministry and know of women who participate in this ministry, and you now desire to warn them, this is a good desire.

But HOW can we do this? Now that we desire our friend to know Christ and Christ alone, HOW do we lovingly snatch them from the fire?

Here’s my advice to help you get started in talking to the friend who loves the IF: Ministry.

First there are 3 things I believe you should do before actually approaching your friend.

Pray

This IS a spiritual battle. The gospel of Purpose has many false doctrines that support it. Doctrines such as extra biblical revelation, mysticism and spiritual disciplines, a troubling hermeneutic that Chris Rosebrough call Narcigesis leading people to believe Scripture is about us more than about Christ, purpose driven salvation, a god who is all about you and less about Christ, a Christ that is more of an example than a Savior, and a call more to surrender and change the world than to simply trust, believe, and walk. Each of these is a stronghold to the flesh. 

Warning the church of false teachers, Jude states this:

⁸ Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. ⁹ But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” ¹⁰ But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. ¹¹ Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion.

Remember, the way of Cain involved the warning God had given him- that sin desired to rule over him, and instead of trusting God to provide a sacrifice for his sin, he grew jealous and murdered his brother because of the grace given to Abel. Balaam’s error was the selling of blessings for a profit, for his own gain, and Korah’s rebellion came out of a rejection of God’s sovereign will to place who HE chooses to be in authority- this is the same rebellion of women who choose to preach and teach over men. 

Jude goes on to describe false teachers and states that they

…[follow] their own sinful desires;…are loud-mouthed boasters, [and show] favoritism to gain advantage.

¹⁷ But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”

Women who unrepentantly teach, and shepherd/ pastor over men during a worship service in the local congregation of the church have chosen to follow their own ungodly passions instead of Christ’s word, and are scoffing at His instructions. They teach more about themselves (boasting of their life and accomplishments) than teaching about Christ. And they unite by showing favoritism with others like themselves to gain advantages such as other speaking engagements and connections with popular churches and speakers.

 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²² And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

–Jude 8-25

It is false teachesr and false teaching that divide. We are not unified because the time has come …when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2Tim 4:3-4)

So when confronting our friends about those that teach these things, what we’re really confronting is the false teachings that our friends enjoy. We listen to teachers because they teach us what we want to hear. If we want to hear how much God loves us unconditionally, that he has a need for us, a great purpose to fulfill through us, and wants to use us to change the world, then we listen to teachers who follow their own sinful desires, who boast of themselves and us…those who tickle our ears in that way. 

To change what our friends desire to hear and know, we MUST go to the God who works in them. We must ask that God open the eyes of their heart to desire what they need. 

We not only need to pray to open their eyes but that God graciously grants us wisdom and love in speaking but that God works in our hearts as well.

Do a Heart Check

Our desire should be for the building up of our friend. It should never be to hold a form of superiority over them or because we want to be right, but that we humble ourselves.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, [we would] complete [Paul’s] joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Our flesh wants us to be unified for the sake of unity, a unity that says we love each other by not pointing out sin or false doctrine. Philippians continues to explain why and how we complete Paul’s joy in unity…through humility.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of [us] look not only to [our] own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among [ourselves], which is [ours] in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 

Phil 2:1-7

Our heart’s should desire that our friend go to teachers whose goal is to

… equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, [so that she] attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that [she] may no longer be [a child], tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

Ephs 4:11-16

Our desire should be that not only we, but our sister in Christ also, grow up in every way into the Head of the Church, into Christ. That by calling our friend out of false teaching, and by our friend turning from false teaching, and being unified in the truth of God’s word, both of us are building each other up in love.

Assess Your Ability to Articulate the Gospel

Because this is what you want to lead your friend back to. To trust the objective work of Christ as their ONLY means of salvation and sanctification.

To me these are essential actions that should be taken before diving into the spiritual battle. And after you have done these now we can get to the nitty gritty- more practical advice on HOW one can talk to their friend who loves the IF:Gathering or any false teacher they follow.

Check your friend’s foundation by asking 2 specific questions:

1. “What does she believe about Scripture?” And
2. “What is the Gospel?”

Why ask what she believes about Scripture?

Determining what she believes about Scripture will help you in this way: It will assess whether you can refer it to her to help her learn discernment. 

If she believes it is not THE tool to equip us for every good work then this is where you start- to help her understand what Scripture says about itself (2 Tim. 3:16-17, 2 Pet. 1:20-21). Once you can bring a woman to understand that Scripture is God’s very word that we are to hold fast to, then Scripture can be the tool used to critique the teacher to which the question will always boil down to: Do we trust the Word or the Teacher?

Why ask what she believes about the Gospel?

This will assess which gospel (not that there really is any other good news) she is trusting in. 

The Gospel is the good news that the bad news has been atoned and paid for. The bad new first- that we, born of Adam, have a nature that is bound to sin. We desire only to love, serve and protect ourselves. The 10 commandments expose this desire (Rom.3:20). When we lie, steal, cheat, murder, hate, lust, covet, etc- we have chosen ourselves over God. And God’s commandments are to love Him and love our neighbor. All have fallen short of this, for all have sinned (Rom 3:23-24). The wages of our sin is death (Rom 6:20), and Christ will come to judge all, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil (2 Corin 5:10). To escape God’s wrath and Judgment one must have perfect righteousness. This leaves EVERYONE in desperation, and we can rightly cry out “who then can be saved!”

But God! And here is the ONLY good news:

God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,  in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom8:3-4). The wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom.6:23). The free gift of Chirst’s sacrifice is  atonement for our sins, and His active obedience given to those who believe and are set apart to clothe them in righteousness. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1Jhn 1:19). In Christ’s perfect offering He has perfected for ALL TIME those who are being sanctified (Heb. 10:14). If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved”(Rom 10:9-13).

In Christ and Christ alone we are saved from the judgment and wrath of God to come. This is the only good news.

Determining what your friend believes about the Gospel matters, because the true gospel exalts Christ as a gift freely given apart from our works. Once we come to see this freeing gift, the other false gospels given by false teachers give more of a burden than a joy.

Ask Questions

If your friend believes that Scripture is God’s very words and is not only inerrant but sufficient and complete, and if she understands that the Gospel is about a work completed by Christ which we trust in, you can move into the conversation with Scripture as your tool and the Gospel at the heart. Once you’ve done that you can begin to ask questions about certain teachers.

An example would be:

• “What do you think about false teachers in the Church?” 
• “Do you think women can be false teachers?”
• “What does God say in his word about false teachers and how do we determine if a woman is one?”

From here is where you can ask certain questions that help her learn how to discern false teachers (I will present more on this, Lord willing, in next week’s blog):

• “Do you know if Jennie Allen/ Christine Cane [insert teacher name here] calls herself a “pastor” and preaches and teaches over men in the church?” (1 Corinthians 11:3-12, 14:34-35, 1 Timothy 2:11-15 and Titus 1, 2.) 
• “Does she talk more about herself and her experiences more than she talks about Christ and exegete the Scripture?”
• “Do her teachings always go back to Christ and the Gospel? Or do they glorify you and your purpose?”, etc.

Lead her to Scripture to answer these questions and let the Holy Spirit speak.

Most likely, you’re not going to bring your friend to an eye opening experience from which she will turn from the teacher, but you will be planting seeds which she will have to contemplate (Holy Spirit, willing) the next time she is listening to one of these teachers. Keep asking and pointing to Scripture in truth with love and the Spirit will do the rest.

May Jude verse 24-25 encourage you as you talk with your friend who loves the IF:Ministry

Now to him who is able to keep you [and all those who are led by the Spirit] from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.  

I pray you and your friend are in His word.

-MelbaToast 🙂

I discuss this in more detail on the podcast. You can listen to it here or watch it on YouTube here.