Four kinds of tongues exist:

  • Speaking in a language unknown to the speaker but known to those who speak that language (Acts 2:1-11). Rare in the modern era! (Xenoglossia)
  • Speaking in a language known only in heaven and unknown on earth unless God gives the gift of interpretation (1 Cor 14:4, 19, 28). (Glossolalia)
  • Speaking under demonic influence.
  • Speaking in non-rational ecstatic verbiage as a human reaction to a religious emotion.

The gift of tongues, as defined in bullet item 2, is for prayer, praise and thanksgiving (1 Cor 14:14-16) and should generally be practiced in private.  However, if the gift is exercised in public only two or three should speak and each should have an interpreter (1 Cor 14:27-28). 

As a general rule regarding spiritual gifts, seek not, forbid not!

But how did the practice of glossolalia originate in the USA?  Some have claimed that the modern Pentecostal Movement was the product of the National Holiness Association and the Wesleyan Holiness Churches in America.  But, as documented by C.W. Carter, it actually began in the mountain areas of east Tennessee and western North Carolina around 1886 under the leadership of two Baptist preachers, R.G. Spaulding and his son.  During a revival near Turtletown, Tennessee, in the church of the younger Spaulding, people began to speak in tongues. This resulted in the expulsion of the pastor and about thirty others.  The ostracized group was invited to meet in the home of W. F. Bryant, a Methodist preacher in Camp Creek, Cherokee County, North Carolina.  Here, other ‘conversions’ and ‘Spirit baptisms’ occurred which were accompanied by glossolalia.  The Camp Creek group is regarded by many as the original church of the Pentecostal movement in America which later reached nationwide significance at Topeka Kansas and at the 1906 – 1909 Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles.  (Carter, p 188-189)

The origins and development of the Pentecostal Movement are not connected with either Methodist or Wesleyan-Holiness groups.  In fact, the main contemporary thrust of the Pentecostal Movement has been directed toward Reformed churches rather than those of the Methodist doctrinal position. (See also Section 1.7 of Theology Corner)