Hayes, Sub-merge

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John B. Hayes, Sub-merge: Living Deep in a Shallow World: Service, Justice, and Contemplation Among the World’s Poor. Regal Books, 2006.

Referenced in: Social Ministry Among the Urban Poor, Urban Ministry

LifeandLeadership.com Summary

This volume expresses John Hayes’ passion for helping the poor and operates as his “manifesto, a prophetic call to join what God is doing among poor and marginalized communities, those who are shut out from or cannot find footing in the market-driven economies of the world.” (14) It addresses four areas of urgency:

Not enough Christian mission workers and volunteers are going out to live and work among the poor.
When they do go, they are not staying long enough to make a lasting impact.
Mission organizations are not organizing wisely enough to sustain missionaries and truly empower the poor.
More Christian men and women with professional backgrounds and/or training need to be creatively drawn into mission work among the poor so that holistic transformation becomes more attainable in poor communities.

Sub-merge reflects Hayes’ work with the organization he directs, InnerCHANGE, that sub-merges, i.e. sub, going beneath the consumer mirage of status, style, spending, and speed, and merge, finding life with Christ among the poor. This stresses an incarnational view of ministry, taking up dwelling with the poor, vs. ministry that has buildings as a center. The idea of deep vs. shallow represents their conviction that “the anesthesia of First World affluence enhances the shallow world’s pull and makes living deep that much more challenging.” (14) It also comes out of their conviction that changing world, and more specifically the challenging urban environment, would benefit from a revisit of ancient wisdom, particularly the teachings of St. Francis of Assisi. Francis elevates a spirituality of finding Jesus among the poor, a spirituality in which wealth and privilege are disempowered, where “the last are truly first, the leader is the servant, the poor are blessed, and the rich go away empty-handed,” but also which “is personal without being exclusive, freeing without being individualistic, and full of grace that allows us who we truly are, not just who we hope to be.” (17)

The result of these emphases is a book that addresses a number of important issues on working with the poor, but it is fundamentally Hayes’ story and plea. It is part theology, part ministry philosophy, part spiritual formation. As such, it is like having a good long conversation with someone who has been, is, and will be completely submerged into the call of helping the poor. Anyone doing this ministry, or contemplating it, should have this conversation.

From the Publisher

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 that 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 Southern California 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 now live in one of the poorest neighborhoods in London, England. John graduated from Princeton and received his Masters in International Relations from Yale.

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