How You Can Be A Part of IF:Gathering 2016
IF:Gathering 2016 is our annual global gathering of women across denominations, generations, and cultures. The way it works is 2,200 women gather in Austin, Texas at IF:Austin, and we host a livestream experience for women in their local communities. We call it IF:Local, and one of our favorite things to do is to equip and unleash you in your places.
You may be asking: What is an IF:Local leader? How do I become one?
We’re so glad you asked! An IF:Local leader is a woman that is…
- Plugged into a church community.
- Full of desire to take initiative for God’s glory and for the good of others.
What do you do?
IF:Gathering builds tools for women who desire to build disciples in their places. By becoming an IF:Local Leader, you are joining with thousands of other women to take initiative for your people by gathering, equipping, and unleashing women. Leaders do this through tools like… IF:Gathering, IF:Pray, IF:Equip, and IF:Table.
I am interested in hosting IF:Local. What are the next steps?
Step 1 – Hear the Vision:
Watch this IF:Visioncast we held to share the vision for February’s event. Also you get to hear from some women who are on the ground planning events, and answers to frequently questions for new and old leaders alike.
Step 2 – Form a Team
What a better way to form a team than to invite them over to eat delicious food with other women in your area, of course!
We invite you to dream big dreams over a meal.
This doesn’t need to be fancy.
Frozen pizza or pinterest worthy. Whatever suits you—it’s going to be awesome.
I know that pulling new people together to talk about deep things and dream big dreams on a Sunday night may not be typical for you, so we wanted to give you a couple of steps.
Gather leaders
Find and invite 5 leaders in your city to your table.
Reach out to local churches, non-profits, women at your children’s school, friends of friends, neighbors, or just ask around. Find women who long to live for God in big ways but are in some way different from you and may reach different groups of people in your local context.
The goal is to bring 5 people together who could work as a team to rally your city or town.
And check out our map where you can find women in your area who are already interested in leading (and their contact information)!
Download Conversation Cards
We want to help foster rich conversation. The goal is that each person at the table would answer the question on the card if time allows. This discussion will help facilitate dreaming and next steps to take with this team. Click here to download the conversation cards.
Here are the three general topics that we hope you discuss:
1. Identify needs in your city or communities. We desire that women would live for the good of others and for the glory of God in their local contexts. That vision can play out in a million different ways. We challenge you to identify what are the physical and spiritual needs of those in your unique, local context. We believe that these are the areas where God may awaken and use you.
2. Dream about IF:Local Gathering 2016. Next February 5-6, 2016, we will host a live event from Austin, Texas, and we want to empower you to host an IF:Local gathering to participate alongside us. Mark your calendars and discuss possible places to host a gathering of women locally. Begin to dream together about where the gathering should meet, how your team will spread the word, and any other ideas to reach your city
3. Discuss roles and responsibilities. Some major responsibilities include: registration, communication, funding, food, attendee experience, printing, & production. We believe that God will provide the people and the resources to make your IF:Local a success. In order to make this possible, each person that is IN for February needs to take responsibility for a piece of the gathering. It’s a lot to ask one person to do. Next steps will go more smoothly if roles and responsibilities are delegated.
Enjoy Each Other’s Company
We are blown away by your courage and your boldness. We want you to have women you can lock arms with. We want to equip you to make God famous in your cities.
If you need other resources or inspiration please visit iftable.com.
Step 3 – Register to Host IF:Local
We’ve invested a lot of time and resources into building a registration system best serve IF:Local hosts & attendees, while also crowd funding the 2016 Gathering budget. We do not charge a set ticket price or fee to livestream the event. Instead, we ask everyone to give what they can to make this gathering possible.
First, learn all about the registration system here, and then we invite you to register & give what you can here.
Looking for more resources to host IF:Local, check ifgathering.tumblr.com all winter long to get equipped.