Spiritual Gift of Speaking & Interpreting Tongues

Speaking in tongues is the gift of 1) the ability to communicate the gospel to other people in a foreign language without the benefit of having studies said language (see Acts 2:4) or 2) the ability to speak to God in a secret, unknown prayer language that can only be understood by a person possessing the gift of Interpretation.
The ability to speak in the language of another culture makes the gift of tongues valuable for spreading the gospel throughout the world, while the gift of speaking a secret prayer language offers the opportunity to build faithfulness within a community of faith.
Tongues is not an issue dealing with just foreign languages. It is about being able to communicate across a wide variety of cultural and generational barriers. Biblically, this gift is only to be used alongside the gift of interpretation of tongues.
You can learn more about spiritual gifts at www.tmumc.org/gifted.

[@joshgellock]

The description says, "The ability to speak in the language of another culture makes the gift of tongues valuable for spreading the gospel throughout the world..." *sigh* Paul said that when you speak in tongues, you speak to God, not to men. Therefore, how can tongues be a gift used to spread the Gospel? Is that something we even see in Scripture? It's not.

[@joshgellock]

@@tmumc They were declaring the wonderful works of God, not talking to others. Otherwise, why would Peter get up after they spoke in tongues and give a sermon? It doesn't make sense.

[@joshgellock]

@@tmumc "If they are declaring the wonderful works of God amongst a group of people in a language the people can understand, is that not a way of spreading the Gospel?" It certainly doesn't seem like they were spreading the Gospel. If that were the case, I think the Scriptures would have jumped to them being added to the church. However, the text doesn't say that. It seems Peter then gave a sermon after they spoke in tongues, in a common language - likely Greek. In fact, it doesn't appear as though anywhere tongues are spoken in Scripture that it's used for spreading the Gospel. And, Paul seems to say that it's speaking to God, not men. Acts seem to suggest the same thing for all of its occurrences with tongues.