2025 UPDATE: The article below was published in February 2024, approximately one year prior to Gather25. Yesterday (February 12, 2025), Amy and I dropped a much more detailed A Word Fitly Spoken podcast episode about Gather25, which will take place in a little over two weeks: Friday, February 28- Saturday, March 1. I encourage you to give it a listen, and warn your church, your friends, or anyone you think might be interested in attending or streaming.
Does anyone know what Gather25 is about? Is it similar to IF:Gathering?
This past weekend was IF:Gathering 2024. I shared my article about it on social media and one of my followers asked this question. I’m glad she did so I could give you a heads up and you can have a whole year to warn your church and your friends away from it.
According to its website, Gather25 is a 25 hour global simulcast of “prayer, worship, repentance, and commissioning” (i.e. sending people out under the auspices of the Great Commission, ostensibly, to share the gospel) which will take place in March 2025.
“Gather25 is being organized and led by an alliance of Christian organizations: IF:Gathering, YouVersion, illumiNations, Right Now Media, and many more international ministries and churches. The original vision for Gather25 was cast by Jennie Allen.”
Jennie Allen is a false teacher and founder of IF:Gathering, an annual conference for evangelical women (and, no doubt, some men) which routinely platforms false teachers, women pastors, and women who preach to men.
YouVersion is hosted by Craig Groeschel’s LifeChurch.TV. He is a false teacher and platforms many other false teachers and women who preach to men.
illumiNations seems to be a Bible translation and distribution organization, which may be just fine, but I’m concerned that all of the evangelical celebrities they currently and proudly list on their home page as supporting their organization (Elevation Worship, Lecrae, Sadie Huff, Passion, IF:Gathering, MVMNT Conference, and Chris Tomlin) are false/woke teachers, or conferences and individuals that platform false/woke teachers.
And these are just the four organizations mentioned by name on the FAQ page. There are many more sponsors, and the ones I’m familiar with are all doctrinally unsound and/or run by false teachers. This thing is absolutely saturated with false teachers.
This event is going to sucker in a lot of undiscerning pastors, because, “What could possibly be wrong with prayer, worship, repentance, and commissioning people to share the gospel? We can just set aside the ‘secondary issue’ differences we have with these people and join them.”. But Scripture forbids us from having anything to do with false teachers. And if your pastor invites these false teachers into your church via simulcast, he is disqualified from the ministry. Titus 1:9 is part of the biblical qualifications for pastors and elders:
He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
Titus 1:9
Furthermore, what sort of false gospel might these false teachers be “commissioning” people to spread? What sort of unbiblical prayer and worship practices will they lead participants in? What is the definition of “repentance” these false teachers hold to? Will they lead participants to “repent” of things like “whiteness,” refusing to baptize practicing homosexuals, oppressing women by not allowing them to be pastors, and such?
If you think your pastor might be the type to have your church participate in this event, I would recommend you start praying now, start preparing now, and prayerfully consider whether or not you should warn him about Gather25 now so that he has plenty of time to be obedient to the Titus 1:9 mandate the Lord has given him.
If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.
If you are considering commenting or sending me an e-mail objecting to the fact that I warn against certain teachers, please click here and read this article first. Your objection is most likely answered here. I won’t be publishing comments or answering emails that are answered by this article.
This article is kept continuously updated as needed.
I get lots of questions about particular authors, pastors, and Bible teachers, and whether or not I recommend them. Some of the best known can be found above at my Popular False Teachers tab. The teacher below is someone I’ve been asked about recently, so I’ve done a quick check (this is brief research, not exhaustive) on her.
Generally speaking, in order for me to recommend a teacher, speaker, or author, he or she has to meet three criteria:
a) A female teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly preach to or teach men in violation of 1 Timothy 2:12. A male teacher or pastor cannot allow women to carry out this violation of Scripture in his ministry. The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be living in any other sin (for example, cohabiting with her boyfriend or living as a homosexual).
b) The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be partnering with or frequently appearing with false teachers. This is a violation of Scripture.
c) The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be teaching false doctrine.
I am not very familiar with most of the teachers I’m asked about (there are so many out there!) and have not had the opportunity to examine their writings or hear them speak, so most of the “quick checking” I do involves items a and b (although in order to partner with false teachers (b) it is reasonable to assume their doctrine is acceptable to the false teacher and that they are not teaching anything that would conflict with the false teacher’s doctrine). Partnering with false teachers and women preaching to men are each sufficient biblical reasons not to follow a pastor, teacher, or author, or use his/her materials.
Just to be clear, “not recommended” is a spectrum. On one end of this spectrum are people like Nancy Leigh DeMoss Wolgemuth and Kay Arthur. These are people I would not label as false teachers because their doctrine is generally sound, but because of some red flags I’m seeing with them, you won’t find me proactively endorsing them or suggesting them as a good resource, either. There are better people you could be listening to. On the other end of the spectrum are people like Joyce Meyer and Rachel Held Evans- complete heretics whose teachings, if believed, might lead you to an eternity in Hell. Most of the teachers I review fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum (leaning toward the latter).
If you’d like to check out some pastors and teachers I heartily recommend, click the Recommended Bible Teachers tab at the top of this page.
Ruth Chou Simons Not Recommended
According to her website, “Ruth Chou Simons is a Wall Street Journal bestselling and award-winning author of several books… She is an artist, entrepreneur, and speaker, using each of these platforms to spiritually sow the Word of God into people’s hearts. Through her online shoppe at GraceLaced.com and her social media community, Simons shares her journey of God’s grace intersecting daily life with word and art. Ruth and her husband, Troy, are grateful parents to six boys—their greatest adventure.”
“Birds of a feather flock together.”
“If you lie down with dogs, you’ll get up with fleas.”
The Bible teaches us, and even the world seems to know, that ungodly people will have a deleterious influence and effect on us. This is one reason the Bible commands us over and over not to associate ourselves or have anything to do with false teachers or those who claim to be Christians, yet live in willful unrepentant sin (persistent false teaching being one of those sins). In fact, to associate with false teachers and fail to rebuke them for their false doctrine disqualifies pastors from ministry. Dare we expect any less from female teachers?
Unfortunately, unrepentantly yoking with false teachers has become a major snare for Ruth Chou Simons. Teachers are under a stricter judgment, and this rampant sin disqualifies her.
Partnering with, and Influenced by False Teachers (Including Female “Pastors”/Preachers)
Ruth’s life and ministry are absolutely saturated with false and problematic teachers, nearly to the exclusion of doctrinally sound teachers (at least this is the way publicly available information about her ministry associations makes it appear).
There are so many examples of her partnering with false teachers that it would be impossible to cite them all, but here is a sampling:
Television
Ruth has appeared numerous times on TBN’s Better Together. If you’re not familiar, it’s a little bit like a “Christian” version of The View without the studio audience. A group of several (varying) women’s “Bible” study celebrities discuss life issues and biblical topics. And par for the course for TBN, they’re all problematic at best, raging heretics at worst. (There’s a reason TBN is often wryly dubbed the “Total Blasphemy Network”.)
Ruth has also participated with the IF:Gathering team to create other media.
*See the final section of this article, “Other Issues of Interest and Concern” for a compelling, biblical review of Ruth’s 2020 IF:Gathering teaching session.
Ruth is part of Lifeway Women’s (the women’s division of Lifeway) stable of authors and conference speakers. The prototypical Lifeway Women author/speaker preaches to men, yokes with false teachers, and teaches false doctrine. (This is why you can feel comfortable making an across the board decision not to follow, listen to, or purchase the materials of a teacher if she’s platformed by Lifeway Women.) Ruth and her materials have been featured in articles, podcasts, giveaways, and so on a number of times at Lifeway Women.
Lifeway Women Live 2021. Photo courtesy of Lifeway Newsroom. Seated L-R: Jackie Hill Perry, Angie Smith, Kristi McLelland, and Ruth Chou Simons
The Gospel Coalition (TGC) should be avoided in general. While it may have been doctrinally sound 15-20 years ago, it has been on a progressive trajectory ever since. Today, TGC is woke, egalitarian, soft on perversion, has a social justice bent, and mishandles Scripture.
Ruth has spoken at some recent TGCW conferences alongside too many false teachers, women preachers/pastors, and “same sex attracted Christians” (yes, you read that right – I told you TGC has gone progressive) to list. One of these was TGCW24 (you can see all of the speakers listed here).
Women of Joy is a women’s conference organization that, for all its extensive proclamations of being “Bible first” and “Bible-based” (“No need to worry about the content that you will hear”!), seems to book false teachers – including women “pastors” and women who preach to men – as speakers almost exclusively.
“Extraordinary Women’s mission is to host Christian women’s events and provide resources that equip women to handle life’s difficulties while enriching their hearts, encouraging their souls and expanding their ministries.” Somehow they hope to do this by booking mainly false teachers to speak at their events.
Come and See Foundation fundraiser. Ruth will be speaking at a private event for this foundation, the purpose of which is to raise money for the production, translation, and distribution of the hideously unbiblical program, The Chosen.
In this episode of Ruth’s podcast, she featured the audio of her panel discussion with Jen Wilkin and Jada Edwards (who preaches frequently at the church her husband pastors) at Ruth’s “Pilgrim Stories” event.
If you’re not paying careful attention, and you don’t dig a little, you might be misled by the banner at the top of the Speaking page of Ruth’s website. “WOMENS EVENTS & CONFERENCES,” it boldly proclaims. Perhaps your initial reaction is (as mine was), “Great! That means she only teaches at women’s events!”.
Unfortunately, this is not the case. Ruth does – regularly and unrepentantly – violate Scripture by preaching to and instructing men in the Scriptures. Currently listed on her calendar of events are three co-ed evangelical events, at which it is reasonable to presume she will be speaking to co-ed audiences on biblical topics: the Sing! Conference, the Come and See Foundation Fundraiser, and the Turning Point Summit*.
*There is a women’s luncheon “hosted by a special guest” one of the days of the Summit, so, although Ruth’s calendar indicates she will be there for the whole event, it’s possible she’s only speaking at this luncheon and not to any co-ed audiences. This doesn’t lessen the point that she preaches to men, I just want to be accurate.
Previous events at which Ruth has preached to men:
Ruth was a keynotespeaker at the 2024 Asian American Leadership Conference. According to the FAQ page, “This conference is primarily for pastors and leaders serving in or adjacent to Asian American ministry contexts. However, this conference is not exclusively for pastors or ministry leaders.”
TGC23 – The Gospel Coalition’s National Conference (not their women’s conference, but the annual TGC conference which is co-ed). Men are clearly visible in this co-ed breakout session audience from the beginning of the video.
And, while one of her sessions at the2024 conference was geared toward moms, the other session she taught, “Preaching the Truth to Yourself and Your Child” was in the “Family Discipleship” track. It was not labeled as being for women and since fathers are responsible for leading family worship/discipleship, it is reasonable to assume there were men in attendance. Let me reiterate: a woman teaching men how to be the spiritual leaders of their homes.
Ruth preached a 2018 chapel service to the (co-ed) student body at Oklahoma Baptist University. Chapel attendance is required of all students as course credit for graduation.
Both I and a couple of my eagle-eyed research team members noticed that in several interviews (such as the one on Revive Our Hearts’ Grounded podcast above), in a series on her own podcast, and in various other discussions, articles, teaching sessions, and so on, Ruth talks a lot about “spiritual formation” and “spiritual disciplines”.
There’s a good bit of confusion these days in evangelicalism over spiritual formation. Spiritual Formation proper is an unbiblical system of mysticism led by people like Richard Foster and the late Dallas Willard. Some churches and individuals are not aware of this, and think the term “Spiritual Formation” is just a trendy, cutting edge synonym for “biblical discipleship” or training in Christian character, and, unfortunately, that’s how they use the term, creating no end of confusion.
Until the Spiritual Formation movement came along and co-opted it to include unbiblical, mystical practices, spiritual disciplines was legitimate theological terminology for practices taught in Scripture that help us to grow in Christ: Bible reading, prayer, worship, Scripture memory, giving, serving the church, evangelism, etc. Many doctrinally sound churches and Christians still use this term correctly and it does not mean they’re into mysticism or Spiritual Formation. (One example is Don Whitney in his excellent and doctrinally sound book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, which was the subject of Ruth’s aforementioned podcast series.)
Unlike The Daily Grace Co. (and some other evangelical teachers and organizations) which has espoused Spiritual Formation proper, from what I can tell without examining every single thing she’s ever written or said on the subject, Ruth seems to fall into the second category of evangelicals who use the term “spiritual formation” to mean “biblical discipleship” and use the classical (biblical) definition of “spiritual disciplines”.
I listened to Ruth’s Spiritual Disciplines podcast episode on silence and solitude, Worthy of Your Full Attention. In Spiritual Formation proper, silence and solitude are for the unbiblical practices of lectio divina, contemplative prayer, some sort of Christian-y mindfulness, or the like. But this is not what Ruth describes. She talks about unplugging, going for a walk or being in a quiet room, and appreciating the beauty of God’s Creation, reciting and/or reflecting on Scripture, or praying. It’s not exactly your every day, formal Bible study and prayer time, but it’s a perfectly biblical way to rest your mind at other times.
From what I’ve seen so far, and unless I see hard evidence to the contrary, I don’t believe Ruth is teaching Spiritual Formation proper.
Discontent and Hollow Hope
I have no doubt whatsoever that Ruth loves and cherishes her children. She even says so at the beginning of this brief interview about her book Now and Not Yet: Pressing In When You’re Waiting, Wanting, and Restless for More.
That’s why it gave me pause when she described raising her children as “tedious” and as a stage of her life where she was “not getting where she wanted to go”. The subtle message that comes across is that motherhood is not a purposeful, God-glorifying end in itself. It’s a way station on the journey to where you really want to be, the thing that’s really important and purposeful.
So I read the sample chapter of the book that’s available at Amazon, and that’s the same impression I got of the overall theme of the book: “First, let’s commiserate in how tough things are right now, girlfriend, but cheer up! One day you’ll be where you really want to be in life.” This is not biblical. It reinforces sinful discontentment by training the reader to covet and put her hope in better life circumstances that God has not ordained for her at this time.
Now, not having read the entire book, perhaps I’m wrong. Perhaps somewhere after chapter 1, she really does stop telling personal anecdotes and experiences, she drills down into rightly handled, in context Scripture, and she teaches the biblical perspective on all of this: contentment. The Bible doesn’t teach us to get through trials and frustrations by putting our hope in better days ahead. The Bible teaches us to be content and put our hope in Christ, whatever our circumstances.
I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:11b-13
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. James 1:2-3
Nothing, not a word about focusing on a brighter future to get us through the unpleasantness of the moment. Contentment in Christ. Joy in being conformed to the image of Christ. That’s what the Bible teaches us about our difficult circumstances.
At the end of the interview when the host asks Ruth for a parting word to the audience, she has the perfect opportunity to share the gospel – to share real hope in Christ with millions of people. And she punts to, “Your ‘someday’ is made up of thousands of ‘right nows’.” Something any Buddhist, New Ager, or atheist could have come up with. A hollow shell of an empty promise. Not the gospel.
One of my researchers described her style as “self-help”. I would describe my impression of Ruth’s teaching as “evangeligirl life management”. Ruth doesn’t handle Scripture well. She talks around the gospel and clear cut, hard hitting biblical doctrine and principles, opting instead for fuzzy, watercolored Christianese platitudes and practical tips expressed in pretty penmanship with a Bible verse sprinkled in here and there. I would say her theology is a mile wide and an inch deep, but that would be grossly overestimating how wide it is. There’s just no substantive biblical there there. And to bring things full circle, that’s due, in no small part, to the influence false teachers have had on her.
I’d like to be able to recommend Ruth to you as a trustworthy source of biblical teaching. I really would. She seems fun and very nice, and I greatly admire her artistic talent. But when you have difficulty rightly handling Scripture, and you rebel against God’s Word by preaching to men and yoking with false teachers, you’re not a trustworthy source of biblical teaching, no matter how sweet and talented you are. I would encourage you not to follow or receive teaching from Ruth Chou Simons.
Many thanks to my research team for providing some of the links and information above. If you’d like to become part of my research team, click here.
Does anyone know what Gather25 is about? Is it similar to IF:Gathering?
This past weekend was IF:Gathering 2024. I shared my article about it on social media and one of my followers asked this question. I’m glad she did so I could give you a heads up and so you can have a whole year to warn your church and your friends away from it.
According to its website, Gather25 is a 25 hour global simulcast of “prayer, worship, repentance, and commissioning” (i.e. sending people out under the auspices of the Great Commission, ostensibly, to share the gospel) which will take place in March 2025.
“Gather25 is being organized and led by an alliance of Christian organizations: IF:Gathering, YouVersion, illumiNations, Right Now Media, and many more international ministries and churches. The original vision for Gather25 was cast by Jennie Allen.”
Jennie Allen is a false teacher and founder of IF:Gathering, an annual conference for evangelical women (and, no doubt, some men) which routinely platforms false teachers, women pastors, and women who preach to men.
YouVersion is hosted by Craig Groeschel’s LifeChurch.TV. He is a false teacher and platforms many other false teachers and women who preach to men.
illumiNations seems to be a Bible translation and distribution organization, which may be just fine, but I’m concerned that all of the evangelical celebrities they currently and proudly list on their home page as supporting their organization (Elevation Worship, Lecrae, Sadie Huff, Passion, IF:Gathering, MVMNT Conference, and Chris Tomlin) are false/woke teachers, or conferences and individuals that platform false/woke teachers.
And these are just the four organizations mentioned by name on the FAQ page. There are many more sponsors, and the ones I’m familiar with are all doctrinally unsound and/or run by false teachers. This thing is absolutely saturated with false teachers.
This event is going to sucker in a lot of undiscerning pastors, because, “What could possibly be wrong with prayer, worship, repentance, and commissioning people to share the gospel? We can just set aside the ‘secondary issue’ differences we have with these people and join them.”. But Scripture forbids us from having anything to do with false teachers. And if your pastor invites these false teachers into your church via simulcast, he is disqualified from the ministry. Titus 1:9 is part of the biblical qualifications for pastors and elders:
He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
Titus 1:9
Furthermore, what sort of false gospel might these false teachers be “commissioning” people to spread? What sort of unbiblical prayer and worship practices will they lead participants in? What is the definition of “repentance” these false teachers hold to? Will they lead participants to “repent” of things like “whiteness,” refusing to baptize practicing homosexuals, oppressing women by not allowing them to be pastors, and such?
If you think your pastor might be the type to have your church participate in this event, I would recommend you start praying now, start preparing now, and prayerfully consider whether or not you should warn him about Gather25 now so that he has plenty of time to be obedient to the Titus 1:9 mandate the Lord has given him.
If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.
If you are considering commenting or sending me an e-mail objecting to the fact that I warn against certain teachers, please click here and read this article first. Your objection is most likely answered here. I won’t be publishing comments or answering emails that are answered by this article.
This article is kept continuously updated as needed.
I get lots of questions about particular authors, pastors, and Bible teachers, and whether or not I recommend them. Some of the best known can be found above at my Popular False Teachers tab. The teacher below is someone I’ve been asked about recently, so I’ve done a quick check (this is brief research, not exhaustive) on her.
Generally speaking, in order for me to recommend a teacher, speaker, or author, he or she has to meet three criteria:
a) A female teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly preach to or teach men in violation of 1 Timothy 2:12. A male teacher or pastor cannot allow women to carry out this violation of Scripture in his ministry. The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be living in any other sin (for example, cohabiting with her boyfriend or living as a homosexual).
b) The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be partnering with or frequently appearing with false teachers. This is a violation of Scripture.
c) The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be teaching false doctrine.
I am not very familiar with most of the teachers I’m asked about (there are so many out there!) and have not had the opportunity to examine their writings or hear them speak, so most of the “quick checking” I do involves items a and b (although in order to partner with false teachers (b) it is reasonable to assume their doctrine is acceptable to the false teacher and that they are not teaching anything that would conflict with the false teacher’s doctrine). Partnering with false teachers and women preaching to men are each sufficient biblical reasons not to follow a pastor, teacher, or author, or use his/her materials.
Just to be clear, “not recommended” is a spectrum. On one end of this spectrum are people like Nancy Leigh DeMoss Wolgemuth and Kay Arthur. These are people I would not label as false teachers because their doctrine is generally sound, but because of some red flags I’m seeing with them, you won’t find me proactively endorsing them or suggesting them as a good resource, either. There are better people you could be listening to. On the other end of the spectrum are people like Joyce Meyer and Rachel Held Evans- complete heretics whose teachings, if believed, might lead you to an eternity in Hell. Most of the teachers I review fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum (leaning toward the latter).
If you’d like to check out some pastors and teachers I heartily recommend, click the Recommended Bible Teachers tab at the top of this page.
Jennie Allen / IF:Gathering Not Recommended
Jennie Allen is “a Bible teacher, author, and the founder and visionary of IF:Gathering,” an annual conference for women. She also blogs, hosts the Made for This podcast, and speaks at IF:Gathering and other events.
(This article is still extremely relevant, but in February 2025, after ten years of annual conferences, Jennie replaced the IF: Gathering conference for women with Gather25, a co-ed international online event. Learn more about Gather25 here.)
The IF:Gathering conference organization (now including IF:Pray, IF:Lead, IF:Equip, IF:Table, IF:Local, IF:TV, and Discipleship Collective), around which most of Jennie’s ministry centers, was “inspired by the question, ‘If God is real…then what?‘.” If God is real– is a troubling premise for an ostensibly Christian ministry. The Christian existence does not center around the pablum possibility that God is real, but on the rock-solid, stake your life and your eternity on it certainty that He is not only real but the Creator of, and Sovereign over, the universe, and the only hope of salvation for sinners. If God is real…then what? as the foundation of a Christian ministry is somewhat akin to If 1+1=2, then what? as the foundational concept of a Mensa-esque organization for the top mathematical minds in the world.
As to the “…then what?” part of the equation, Jennie’s and IF’s solution is woefully unbiblical. Jennie has an established history of embracing and partnering in ministry with false teachers, female “pastors,” and women who preach to men. Just a few of the many available examples:
Since the launch of IF:Gathering in 2014, Jennie has habitually featured false and biblically problematic teachers and female preachers/pastors as speakers and as part of IF’s leadership team:
Top Row: Melissa Greene, Lauren Chandler, Tara Jenkins, Esther Havens, Bianca Olthoff, Jen Hatmaker, Ann Voskamp Bottom Row: Lindsey Nobles, Jennie Allen, Rebekah Lyons, Angie Smith
IF 2022 included a similar tableau of false teachers, female preachers/pastors, and racialists (some are returning speakers, some are new):
And, once again, IF 2023 features many of the same speakers, plus a few new faces who mostly (though not all) fall into the same categories of female “pastor,” women who preach to men, false teachers, and racialists.
In addition to Beth Moore speaking at IF:Gathering 2020 and IF:Lead 2020, Jennie’s partnerships and displays of affinity with her are far too numerous to list (just Google Jennie Allen Beth Moore, and you’ll see what I mean) and have been going on for years. A couple of recent examples:
Jennie preaching at Liberty University’s convocation (chapel) (LU Convocation – Mar.6, 10:30 AM, Streamed Live on March 6, 2020 – Jennie begins preaching at 40:59) Starting at 38:40 the man introducing Jennie says, “…I believe Jennie has a message for every single one of us…I’m so excited to sit under her teaching because I don’t believe…the principles that she has for us are just for women…I want you to know, especially the men in this room, that I believe that what God has brought through this messenger at this very moment is not just for the ladies in the room. It would be very closed minded for us to think that…every time a man shows up here that’s just for the men in the room and every time a woman comes, that’s just for the other [women]…”
I can’t seem to locate a statement of faith for Jennie or what church she currently attends, so you’ll have to infer what she believes by reading her books and blog, but I have learned a few specifics about her theology. Jennie is a proponent of the unbiblicalEnneagram. Jennie believes in extra-biblical revelation, and started IF:Gathering because “a voice from the sky” told her to:
Jennie often focuses on “dreaming” (in the sense of future goals or creative aspirations), a concept foreign to Scripture. I downloaded her “Dream Guide” for 2019 and found some of her statements troubling:
It really is as simple as this. Do the best you can in this world and as you’re going, love God and give Him away to people.
“Do the best you can in this world”? Where does the Bible say that? “And as you’re going, love God”? Like it’s an afterthought or an accessory to your life of “doing the best you can”? No. It really is as simple as this: Repent and believe the gospel, and walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.
When we create and thrive for the good of others, you’re participating in God’s redemptive work of making the world better.
Again, the Bible doesn’t teach this anywhere. “God’s redemptive work” is not “making the world better.” The Bible clearly says that “the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants,” and, “the world is passing away along with its desires.” Furthermore, “God’s redemptive work” is to save people. That’s the entire point of the whole Bible. His redemptive work was completed in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ to save sinners. And if you want to “participate in God’s redemptive work,” you don’t “create and thrive” (whatever that means) “for the good of others,” you share the gospel with them and disciple them as we’re commanded to in the Great Commission.
..this is our goal, to create beauty out of chaos and thrive.
Also not in the Bible anywhere. Also not our goal. As Christians, our goal is to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ, pursue holiness, and carry out the Great Commission. All of which are in the Bible.
Dreaming is an incredible privilege. It is a stewardship of the opportunities God has put in front of us.
Not to sound like a broken record, but, again, none of this is in the Bible, and the second sentence doesn’t even make logical sense. To “steward” something is to use it wisely and for a godly purpose. To do something with it to the glory of God. Sitting around “dreaming” isn’t doing anything. In fact, since “dreaming” isn’t something we’re instructed to do in Scripture, it’s actually squandering the “opportunities God has put in front of us” – opportunities like sharing the gospel, serving others, studying our Bibles, prayer, worship, etc. – which are things Scripture instructs us to do, in favor of sitting around relying on our dreams.
At the end of the “Dream Guide” are several “conversation card” questions about how you can improve yourself in the coming year. One of them is pretty good: “How could you better plug into and serve the local church?”. The rest are fairly narcissistic, and there’s nothing about studying Scripture, growing in holiness, prayer, or repenting of sin. Additionally Jennie quotes only one passage of Scripture in the entire booklet, and she quotes it from The Message, one of the worst versions (it’s a paraphrase, not a translation) of the Bible out there.
And regarding “being a strong woman in the church,” while Jennie mostly stays vague and neutral, she does touch on a few biblical concepts:
18:35- “What my husband heard from me was: My wife has strong gifts and a strong passion for God, and she wants to serve Him, and she’s not because of me.” As if she couldn’t passionately serve God with her gifts by being a godly wife and serving and submitting to her husband.
22:31- “I know that the obvious question that everybody wants to know the answer of is ‘What about roles and positions in the church?’…But I think we oftentimes get so distracted by that…that we are missing all the work that God has for us. And, you know, my view on that is every local church is going to have a different opinion about that…So wherever you go, Scripture just says, ‘Don’t be divisive,’…but the bigger issue to me is the way we view each other, the way we value each other…” Notice Jennie uses no Scripture to answer the “obvious question” everybody wants to know the answer to, she only gives her personal opinion that we are getting “distracted” by this legitimate, biblical question, and that the bigger issue – to her – is not what the Bible says about the role of women in the church, but “the way we value each other”. It’s a problem that “every local church is going to have a different opinion” about the role of women in the church because there is only one position on that issue that’s biblical. The local church doesn’t get to have an opinion on that issue, the issue is decided by Scripture and the church is to submit to and uphold Scripture’s teaching on it. Furthermore, Scripture does not just say, “Don’t be divisive.” Scripture is abundantly clear what the role of women in the church is to be, and both individual women and church leaders are to obey it.
The fact that Jennie consistently and unrepentantly platforms female “pastors” and women who preach to men at IF speaks much more clearly about her personal (and unbiblical) opinion on the role of women in the church than her finessing answer here.
27:21- The interviewer asks Jennie, “What does submission mean?” Her response is much too long to quote, so I’ll summarize. The first words out of Jennie’s mouth are, “That word? To me?” She then proceeds to give a not altogether unbiblical answer about how she loves submission, but it is mainly her opinion and personal experience with her own husband, not Scripture, and primarily centers around the fact that if she brings something to her husband for a decision and he decides unbiblically, he will have to answer to God for it, not her, and that she will have no accountability to God for any sin she might commit in the process. “It’s gonna be awesome!” she chortles, as the audience laughs along, as though there’s something funny about her husband standing before God and giving an account for his decision, and her blaming him for it. Jennie then pivots to describing how “that word [submit] has been used like a pistol to [many women’s] heads” and says “so the fact that that word has a bad rap makes sense to me…Here’s the problem, guys, we’re divided, but there’s reasons on it for both sides.” She seems to be saying that submitting or not submitting is not based on Scripture’s commands, but on personal experiences and situations, and that both submitting and refusing to submit are equally valid choices depending on our own experiences, feelings, and opinions. (And, no, I am not saying women should “submit” to being abused. That’s not the biblical definition of submission.)
Jennie seems like a lovely, genuinely caring person, and earnest when she speaks and writes, but none of those things qualify someone to teach Scripture. And in this case, Jennie is disqualified by her errant theology and unbiblical practices. I regret that I’m forced to recommend that you not receive teaching from Jennie Allen, her materials and conferences, or anyone connected to the IF organization.
If you are considering commenting or sending me an e-mail objecting to the fact that I warn against false teachers, please click here and read this article first. Your objection is most likely answered here. I won’t be publishing comments or answering emails that are answered by this article.
I get lots of questions about particular authors, pastors, and Bible teachers, and whether or not I recommend them. Some of the best known can be found above at my Popular False Teachers tab.
Generally speaking, in order for me to recommend a teacher, speaker, or author, he or she has to meet three criteria:
a) A female teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly preach to or teach men in violation of 1 Timothy 2:12. A male teacher or pastor cannot allow women to carry out this violation of Scripture in his ministry. The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be living in any other sin (for example, cohabiting with her boyfriend or living as a homosexual).
b) The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be partnering with or frequently appearing with false teachers. This is a violation of Scripture.
c) The pastor or teacher cannot currently and unrepentantly be teaching false doctrine.
Just to be clear, “not recommended” is a spectrum. On one end of this spectrum are people like Nancy Leigh DeMoss Wolgemuth and Kay Arthur. These are people I would not label as false teachers because their doctrine is generally sound, but because of some red flags I’m seeing with them, you won’t find me proactively endorsing them or suggesting them as a good resource, either. There are better people you could be listening to. On the other end of the spectrum are people like Joyce Meyer and Rachel Held Evans- complete heretics whose teachings, if believed, might lead you to an eternity in Hell. Most of the teachers I review fall somewhere in the middle of this spectrum (leaning toward the latter).
Angie Smith– Not recommended. Wife of Todd Smith of the Christian music group, Selah, Angie started out as a blogger, then blossomed into a Christian author and speaker. Her best known book to date is a women’s study: Seamless: Understanding the Bible as One Complete Story.
While all of Angie’s currently scheduled speaking engagements appear to be for women’s events, she has preached at least one Sunday morning sermon (to a congregation of men and women)- at Cross Point Church.
It’s humorously played up, but Angie’s devotion to Beth Moore is a bit over the top. She calls herself “a little bit of a crazy stalker fan supporter of Beth Moore” and says her “favorite Bible teachers are Beth Moore and Priscilla Shirer,” adding, “I’m pretty sure they will both have special chairs very near to Jesus in heaven,” and “I have a little area of my house devoted to Beth Moore. Okay, that’s a lie too, but if it wasn’t idol worship, I probably would. At least a little candle or something? framed pictures? A life-sized cardboard cutout? Such a delicate balance between admiration and a restraining order…”
Space doesn’t permit me to list all the times Angie has partnered with false teachers nor all the false teachers she has partnered with. As I’ve previously mentioned, not only does surrounding yourself with false teachers influence your doctrine, it is impossible to be endorsed by so many false teachers unless your doctrine is acceptable to them, and they do not put up withsound doctrine.
Angie Smith– Not recommended. Wife of Todd Smith of the Christian music group, 
