Teaching biblical faith in the Malaysian Chinese Church: A model of biblical narrative learning from the Gospel of John

Biblical narrative learning is a non-critical educational approach for Christian communities with diverse learning backgrounds. It is grounded in humankind's universal capacity to teach and learn through stories and built on practices in narrative learning, along with biblical narratives. The Gospel of John provides a model for this interpretive process that continues the teaching of living in a loving relationship with God and one another, through the faith tradition in the community of faith, and its larger context. The rereading of the ancient text is infused with the stories of the Church and makes the Story of Jesus fresh. John uses many literary devices to enhance an affective and reflective learning. The literary devices create the familiar-strange effect and the full expression that engages all five senses.;John's narrative fosters remembrance of the Story and guides the learner to adequate faith in God. It inculcates adequate faith to wait in suspense, while the Story and stories, when they are remembered, create new understanding, under the work of the Holy Spirit and transform the life experiences of the person. Biblical narrative learning involves three sets of movement: inquire and invent, interpret and imagine-inspire, and imitate and impart. Through work in the Malaysian Chinese Church, in particular, the telling of lived faith testimony can be gathered and refined by research methods in narrative inquiry, and the skillful use of literary devices make them more affective and memorable.