Was speaking in tongues given to enable evangelists to preach to foreign countries in their native languages?
The short answer is “No.” Approximately 120 believers were present at Pentecost including: Mary the mother of Jesus, the remaining eleven Apostles, the brethren of Jesus, and various other Christians. Each spoke in at least one foreign language, and possibly in several foreign languages at Pentecost. The Scriptures and Church history records the travels of the Apostles and leaders of the Early Church. Several did indeed go on missionary journeys to foreign lands. Yet we have no recorded instance of any of the 120 going to a foreign land and preaching to them in other tongues. Not one single recorded instance. Strange that tongues were given for foreign evangelism, but none of the 120 ever used tongues for that. Wouldn’t the gift of tongues have been a wonderful tool for evangelism? For instance, Mary the mother of Jesus could have travelled to Cairo Egypt, stood in the shadow of the pyramids and supernaturally preached the Gospel of her Son to them in Arabic–a language she did not spe
