What does Tribe teach about hope?
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 hope starts with a very specific claim: hope is not wishful thinking and it is not the same thing as optimism about circumstances. Brian Hunter has worked through the Hebrew behind Psalm 37:34 and described hope as the act of twisting strands together, the way a rope is braided, so that personal faith and God's promises become inseparable from each other. The picture is not a feeling you wait for but a posture you take, and Brian has pressed the congregation with a pointed question about where their hope has actually been sitting, as distinct from where they assumed it was.
The clearest tension Brian holds in this teaching is between God's reliability and our tendency to quietly give up. He uses Zechariah as the example, a man who had prayed for a child for years and had, the text suggests, stopped expecting an answer. The angel had to remind him of the promise. Brian says, "God's promises are always guaranteed, but they are not always automatic," and he builds from there to the idea that God consistently invites people into the fulfillment of what he has promised rather than simply delivering it while they stand still. Hope that is genuinely placed in God, rather than in a good ski season or a financial breakthrough, changes how you actually move.
The church has also lived this teaching, not just heard it. Bob and others have described years of looking at buildings that did not work out, a building purchase that came through a stranger with a terminal diagnosis who gave his money away before he died, and a present moment where the congregation is again trusting forward into something it cannot yet see. Brian has said more than once, quoting something he heard from Bill Johnson, "Sometimes it takes the Lord a long time to act suddenly." That phrase has become something of a shared language at Tribe, a way of naming the gap between a guaranteed promise and the moment it arrives, and holding steady in it.
Taught from Psalm 37:34 · Hebrews 11:32-34 · Hebrews 12:1-2 · Psalm 119:114 · Romans 5:3-5 (approximate)
“Sometimes it takes the Lord a long time to act suddenly.”
From Travel Steady Along His Path
The passage taught · 1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- January 1, 2024 Travel Steady Along His Path Brian Hunter reflects on Psalm 37:34 with his congregation, reviewing how Tribe Church pursued steadfastness in 2023 and what it means to travel steady along God's path.
- January 16, 2023 Travel Steady Along His Path Brian Hunter walks Tribe through Psalm 37:34, exploring how God's promises are guaranteed but never automatic, and what it looks like to actively wait on the Lord.
- 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
- December 7, 2025 The Promise of Rest A Jackson Hole pastor traces the biblical feast of Sukkot to Jesus' arrival as the fulfillment of Israel's hope, promising rest and provision for weary lives.
- December 25, 2024 The Story of Christmas Begins in a Garden Brian Hunter traces the story of Christmas from a garden to a manger, explaining why he believes Jesus came, what he accomplished, and why it still matters.