Living Out My Faith

Living Out My Faith -
Jo and Gabriel were interested in the way people of faith live out their faith. They hosted a pleasant dinner meeting in their home to explore this concern with around twenty friends who accepted their invitation. As a starter, I was commissioned to narrate for half an hour my personal observations.

This provided the challenge to relate my faith to my life. What were the seminal influences that I could identify in the development of my faith and the ways to live it out?

I was not born into a Christian home for my parents were followers of the traditional Chinese religions with the emphasis on religious rituals without too much understanding of doctrines. In my formative years I saw primarily the living out of their faith.

I experienced the protection and security in my childhood. This came through the love of my mother in nurturing me and responding to my needs. I recall that my father was the disciplinarian and I was reminded of the rules that govern my behaviour. It was necessary to know the rules and to follow them. There was nothing strictly religious in content but guidelines and examples to help me to become a well-behaved and well-mannered person in a Confucian culture.

My father learnt the language of the British colonial government. He became an Interpreter in the law courts and served the government in different towns. The family was living with people of other races as neighbours, Malays and Indians. I was exposed to other cultures. I grew up in Kampar and received some Christian influence in the local Methodist school. The rented terrace house which is still standing had the town mosque and a Chinese temple at the end of Jalan Ampang, a side road off the main trunk road that runs through the town going north and south.

During World War II and the Japanese Occupution of Malaya, tragedy struck which led to my being crippled and coupled with the untimely death of my father when I was fifteen. I was forced to reflect upon my difficult uncertain future. My widowed homemaker mother was abruptly loaded with the responsibility for my welfare as well as that of my younger brother and two sisters. Two older sisters were married at that time. It was not an easy burden and I knew it was my responsibility to lift that heavy burden as soon as possible.

I received love and kindness from family and friends in my early formative years and in the time of personal crisis I received care and concern from Christian friends. Sensing my indebtedness of kind people around me I was aware that I need to repay the kindness shown. They reflected their religious faith. The inter-relationships between faith and life were demonstrated to me in a personal way. In my deepest need I experienced the greatest compassion.

This process guided me throughout my life. Faith made visible in life. Life brought clarity to faith. It is a continuous interaction between action and reflection, faith and works. In the process of living and reflecting I drew my inspiration from Christian friends and pastors.

The one sermon that stands out in my mind in my youth is the one from the Rev Ralph Kesselring who was my missionary pastor and Principal in Ipoh. Strangely enough his daughter Ann a few years ago discovered the text of the sermon with written notations and sent it to me. It was strange but it was to me a serendipitous moment. It was the message of Amos on social justice. Away from the religious festivals, silence the noisy solemn assemblies and let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.


I was drawn to the other prophet Micah who posed the question as to what the Lord requires from me – but to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.
My spiritual journey with God must necessarily be through deeds of kindness and works of justice.

When I finally decided to choose my career as a Pastor, I was privileged to secure my preparation in Boston University School of Theology in the United States. It was that seminary and its social ethicist Walter Muelder and systematic theologian Harold DeWolf who taught Martin Luther King in his doctoral programme and mentored him in his Civil Rights struggle and supported him to live out his faith. I was privileged to sit under the feet of these scholars who set the direction in my own spiritual journey in my Christian ministry

It was a call not to just ensure me that I am on the road to enter heaven but on a mission to love God through loving my neighbour in this world. It was a call not just to settle my doctrinal faith but to live out my faith at each moment in my life. My faith is always action-oriented. It is a continuing process of expressing my faith in life and enriching my faith through my involvement.

What then are some of the contours of my religious faith that I confess? God is always a mystery to mortal human beings who are limited and we cannot fully define the nature of God. Suffice to acknowledge God as the Creative One who brought all things into existence and has breathed life in us and around us. What then is the meaning and purpose of this one life of mine? It is to participate in the same creative task of God in the creation groaning in travail and in the process of fulfillment.

Faith is not just worshiping and praying and praising God. It is not petitioning to God to intervene directly to heal broken lives and restore this fractured world. Faith is not appealing to God to bless us with prosperity, health and success. Faith is to believe in God who has created and continues in the creative work and loves us. It is to express our God-given freedom to decide to live a life of discipleship – following Christ who taught us to love God with all our heart and mind and strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves.

Living out my Christian faith is to engage pragmatically in service to those who are in need and especially to the marginalized, oppressed, rejected and despised around us. This is why I had to live out my faith and my life in participating in programmes of service and justice to the poor materially and spiritually, gays and lesbians, and the Other – those who are of a different sex, religion or social status.

Some of the specific missions and ministries that I was engaged in was in the human rights and peace-making efforts through the Christian Conference of Asia in the martial law period in the Philippines, Korea, Indonesia. It was also in the task of relief and rehabilitation in the Indochina countries and developing relationships with the Christian churches as they surfaced from the days of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. It is in the pastoral ministry to the gays and lesbians as they come out from their closets. It is in the fellowship of the Inter Religious Organization promoting peace and harmony. It is in the work of reconciliation between the Sinhalese and Tamils at the conclusion of their civil war. It is in the support of humanitarian assistance to the poor and the needy. These are the ways that I continue to try to live out my faith.


In principle it is involvement in the work of transformation of life. It is to effect changes and paradigmn shifts and bring about the reign of God in personal lives and systemic structures.

In principle I am compelled to acknowledge differences and affirm diversity in life. It is to move from toleration of differences to respect differences and to celebrate differences. It is to interact with the Other and to be open to learn from one another. It is to install justice in my relationships and establish righteousness in my live. This is my attempt in living out my faith in my daily walk with God. By so doing, I strive to play my part to restore the rainbow of hope in God’s Creation.

- Yap Kim Hao