What does Tribe teach about prayer and fasting?

At Tribe, the teaching on fasting starts with a straightforward claim: this is not a practice reserved for elite or unusually devoted Christians. When Joy taught through this in August 2023, she drew a clear line between fasting and other forms of self-denial. Giving up social media, cutting sugar, or following a restricted diet all have real value, but they are not fasting. The word itself, at its Greek root, simply means not eating. What Jesus modeled in Matthew 4 before his ministry began was no food and water only, and that is the pattern Joy was commending to the congregation.

The core reason she gave is that followers of Jesus are his apprentices. In Matthew 6 he does not say 'if you fast' but 'when you fast,' placing it alongside prayer and giving as an expected rhythm of the Christian life, not an exceptional one. Fasting is also, in her framing, an act of self-offering. She connected it directly to Romans 12:1 and the call to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, arguing that fasting is one of the most direct ways to do that because you physically feel the sacrifice. As she put it, 'Our motive in fasting is always to offer ourselves to God. It is an act of worship.'

She also worked through Deuteronomy 8 to show that fasting has a role in growing in holiness, particularly in guarding against the kind of pride and comfort that comes when life is full and easy. She was direct about the connection: 'Pride and a full stomach are bedfellows.' The immediate occasion for this teaching was Tribe's upcoming twenty-one days of prayer for Israel, but Joy made clear that fasting was meant to be a regular rhythm, not just a seasonal one, describing it as one of the best weapons God has given his people.

Taught from Matthew 6:16-18 · Matthew 4:1-11 · Romans 12:1 · Deuteronomy 8:2-3 · Isaiah 58