Submerge: Living Deep in a Shallow World: Service, Justice and Contemplation Among the World's Poor [Paperback]

John B. Hayes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2007

It’s time to change the face of poverty, to live our faith authentically and to get involved with the people who need help. It’s time to sub-merge ourselves, to go deep— beneath the surface of shallow living—and make a difference in our world! Follow author John Hayes as he lives out his faith on some of the toughest streets and poorest ghettos in the world. Learn what real compassion looks like in the trenches. Discover why people of faith cannot ignore the poor and how the St. Francis model of compassion can help alleviate suffering today. You’ll also be energized to action through an inside look at the workings of InnerCHANGE, a mission organization that seeks to work among the poor, rather than just offering aid and handouts. Readers will come away with practical ways they can work for justice and find significance in the process.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

It’s time to change the face of poverty, to live our faith authentically and to get involved with the people who need help. It’s time to sub-merge ourselves, to go deep— beneath the surface of shallow living—and make a difference in our world! Follow author John Hayes as he lives out his faith on some of the toughest streets and poorest ghettos in the world. Learn what real compassion looks like in the trenches. Discover why people of faith cannot ignore the poor and how the St. Francis model of compassion can help alleviate suffering today. You’ll also be energized to action through an inside look at the workings of InnerCHANGE, a mission organization that seeks to work among the poor, rather than just offering aid and handouts. Readers will come away with practical ways they can work for justice and find significance in the process.

About the Author

JOHN B. HAYES has had a lifelong interest in the needs of the poor. He and his wife Deanna are general directors of InnerCHANGE, a mission order which works among the poor in five countries sharing the good news in words and works through personal relationships. In the summer of 1984, he relocated his family to the poorest, most overcrowded street in Orange County at the time. He was determined to launch a holistic ministry that establishes its personnel in the inner city to minister inside-out. The Hayes and their two daughters, Savannah and Alexandra, later moved to the inner city of San Francisco and will soon relocate to one of the poorest neighborhoods in London, England. John graduated from Princeton and received his Masters in International Relations from Yale.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Regal (January 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830743065
• ISBN-13: 978-0830743063
• Product Dimensions: 0.8 x 5.6 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #701,573 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars good substance from a community of practitioners January 11, 2007

By Darren Prince

Format:Paperback

John Hayes would be enough of a writer to have done this alone. But, true to his philosophy of ministry, he's collaborated at a community level to make Sub-merge a book that reads more like the book of Acts than an Epistle. Watch John and the InnerCHANGE community dive deep into ministry among the poor. More importantly, watch them articulate and live by a way of being community that goes beyond mission towards a new way of living as the people of God. Read this . . . and then buy it for a friend.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars How an Ivy-Leaguer quit the rat-race to become a good Samaritan, accidentally started a missionary order-And what to do about it January 19, 2007

By T. Lockie

Format:Paperback

When someone decides to take Jesus at his word and love the poor, what does it look like? John Hayes journeys from being a Rich Young Ruler as a successful businessman in Japan to becoming a neighbor in the inner city of Santa Anna. The Order, InnerCHANGE, that has grown from John's work, is an expression of what it means to love the poor as next door neighbors, not as short term volunteers. It's great to read from the experience of someone who's done it for more than 20 years, rather than from people who think about what it could look like.

This book lays out the history of this order, and the perspectives that it's important to know poor people as friends, and not just know about the poor. Those people looking to serve incarnationally among the poor should read this book. (Their parents might want to read it too!)

SELLING POINTS: it includes stories of people who live it out, it doesn't have all the answers (but includes many of the right questions), the photos capture the dignity of the poor, and it feels personal.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars a book born of broad experience and serious study January 16, 2007

By Susan Smith

Format:Paperback

John is not just a man of the library, a Harvard grad a history buff theorizing about scripture and poverty. He is not a just a man of action, going to the streets, walking with the poor, and sharing their lives. And he is not just a wordsmith who crafts every sentence. Being all of these, John has brought us a delightfully readable book that looks at the Bible, history, and personal experience, and out of them shows us where we are going, or where we could go, as we walk with God among the poor.