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 comes out of the broader conversation about the Holy Spirit and how he operates through believers. In the January 2023 message that opened the year, Brian took a few minutes at the start to explain the practice from 1 Corinthians after Colleen had spoken in tongues during worship and Brian had offered an interpretation. He made clear to the room that the same Holy Spirit living in him lives in everyone present, and he walked through what that kind of manifestation is and why it belongs in the gathered life of the church. His posture was pastoral and grounding, not sensational. He also told the congregation directly that he would protect people from things that were out of bounds, but not from discomfort, because discomfort is often exactly where growth happens.
The August 2023 message on the baptism of the Holy Spirit gave more of the theological weight behind why this matters at all. The key point Brian kept returning to was that when a person gets saved, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in them fully, not a fragment or a portion. But as Brian put it, "When I get saved, the Holy Spirit lives in me, but he awaits for me to give him permission to operate through me." Speaking in tongues, like the other gifts addressed in 1 Corinthians 12, sits inside that framework: the Spirit is already fully present, and the question is whether a believer is opening themselves to let him move.
Taken together, these messages reflect a church that treats speaking in tongues as a normal part of Spirit-filled community life, explained plainly, practiced in worship, and connected directly to the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in every believer. It is not placed on a pedestal or treated as the exclusive mark of something elite, but it is taken seriously as one of the ways the Spirit operates through people who give him room to do so.
Taught from 1 Corinthians 12 · 1 Corinthians (chapter not specified) · Luke 11:11-13 · 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 · Ephesians 1:17
“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.