Customer Reviews

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

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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.

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.

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.

This book was not only informational, it was transformational. Reading it was one of those broad-stroke life-changers. I do not see the world the same, nor will I be the same in it. Thank you for deepening me. MP

The church we've inhereted and propagated in the late 20th century and now into the next, is culturally captive. We've become guilty of heresy with an incomplete Gospel and we're guilty of syncretism as we breath the cultural mores that have us not just failing to act like Jesus, but not caring. John is gracious and yet a powerful prophetic voice to us - the church - asking questions and sharing stories that manifest the spirit of Nathan, telling us a story that speaks to indict and bring us to repent.

My prayer and longing is that not only do we, the leaders of the church read this manifesto, but that we hear and repent to the point that it loosens the cultural grip on us that we might become the light houses we're called to be, and live lives differently - lives that reveal the holistic Gospel that causes Jesus' name to be renown in our land and beyond.

One of the things I like about this book is it actually is "a good read". The author did not shirk his artistic responsiblity to win the reader's interest, as many writers in this genre do, with the unspoken excuse that the "cause" or the material is so profound that their only responsiblity is to put words on paper. This book is actually an enjoyable literary experience.

This book is very well written and inspiring! The stories are from real life experience and shared extremely well. It moves us to not analyze poverty, but know people who live in poverty and think about how we interact with and perceive the world's poor. It helps us think through how we can truly respond to the poor with dignity and learn from them. It is an inspiring and moving read for everyone who is cognizant of people who live in poverty or are marginalized in their societies.

Wow! Excellent book! I just finished reading Sub-Merge, by John Hayes, from cover to cover. Reading this book invites one to travel deeply into vivid stories of living among the poor. John Hayes expresses and speaks a prophetic message regarding the reality of how the marginalized and poor live. To read this book is to have one's eyes opened to that reality, especially with respect to the relationship between the rich and poor. This book teaches about God's profound love, and invites the reader into an authentic relationship with those on the margins.

I have been a part of InnerCHANGE for almost 2 years now, and this book still struck me as fresh and challenging when I read it. It made me want to join InnerCHANGE all over again!

I recommend this book to youth who are thinking about life directions such as college/mission. I recommend it to college students, and especially recent grads who are looking for a meaningful and prophetic way to engage in the world. I recommend it for seasoned adults in all walks of life who want to hear afresh God's call to create/join a community and pour it out into the cracks and crevices of the world's societies.

This is not just a book for someone considering urban ministry, or ministry to the poor. It is a book for any and every Christian.

At a minimum this is a perspective book -- a mirror to hold up to your face and show the ease in which most of us in the west follow Jesus (and rarely have anything to say about how he has "shown up" in miraculous ways) and then just listen to what the Holy Spirit might say to you. This book will inspire and challenge you to examine how faith in Jesus is to be lived out by all whom He calls to follow Him.

I finished Sub-merge and immediately gave it to a woman I was talking to at the Starbucks where I was reading it. I am now ordering another copy to replace it.