What does Tribe teach about speaking in tongues?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on speaking in tongues starts with the room itself. During the January 2023 service, Colleen spoke in tongues during worship, and Brian offered an interpretation drawn from Psalm 37:34. Rather than moving past the moment, Brian paused to explain the practice from 1 Corinthians and to ground it in something the whole congregation could hold onto: the same Holy Spirit living in him lives in everyone present. The tone was never clinical or defensive, just matter-of-fact, as though this is simply part of what happens when the Spirit is given room to move.
The August 2023 message on the baptism of the Holy Spirit filled in the theology underneath that practice. Brian's consistent point is that when a person gets saved, the Holy Spirit takes up full residence in them, not a portion or a fragment. But the Spirit does not operate on autopilot. As Brian puts it, "When I get saved, the Holy Spirit lives in me, but he awaits for me to give him permission to operate through me." Tongues, then, is not a strange intrusion from outside the believer but one expression of a Spirit who is already present and waiting to be released.
Brian also made clear that he would protect the congregation from things that were out of bounds, but not from discomfort, because discomfort is often exactly where growth happens. Speaking in tongues fits inside that same posture. It is not something to be afraid of or to treat as a performance, but a gift from a good Father, which is precisely how Jesus frames the Holy Spirit in Luke 11:11-13.
Taught from 1 Corinthians 12 · Luke 11:11-13 · 1 Corinthians 12-14 · Ephesians 1:17 · Revelation 22:17
“When I get saved, the Holy Spirit lives in me, but he awaits for me to give him permission to operate through me.”
From Baptism of the Holy Spirit: What, How, and Why
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 12
1 Now concerning spiritual things, brothers, I don’t want you to be ignorant.
2 You know that when you were heathen, you were led away to those mute idols, however you might be led.
3 Therefore I make known to you that no man speaking by God’s Spirit says, “Jesus is accursed.” No one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” but by the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- August 14, 2023 Baptism of the Holy Spirit: What, How, and Why Brian Hunter walks through what the baptism of the Holy Spirit is, why it matters, and how to receive it, drawing from Luke 11 and Romans 7.
- January 9, 2023 Travel Steady Along His Path： A Word for Tribe 2023 Pastor Brian Hunter walks through Psalm 37:34, asking Tribe fam where their hope really rests and what it means to travel steadily along God's path into 2023.
Mentioned along the way
- February 6, 2023 Travel Steady Along His Path Part 4 A Wyoming congregation works slowly through Psalm 37:34, exploring what it means to wait on God, grab hold of his promises, and let him separate us from what holds us back.