Sub-Merge Book Report

Sub-Merge: Living Deep in a Shallow World
John B. Hayes
Regal (2006)
This book is a call to serve God by working with the poor, vulnerable, and marginalized people of society. The author goes into detail about several missions strategies that are currently being utilized throughout the urban world, with a special emphasis on incarnational living as a key to transformational leadership.
The author does a good job describing the needs of the poor around the world, but that is not really the major theme of the book. The focus is on mobilizing people to join in community with other incarnational leaders in order to connect more effectively with people in need. Great joy and relationships can be found in discovering shared experiences within a missional community. The author suggests that the Western church is obsessed with process, and not necessarily solutions. We are also driven to succeed according to Western norms. This modern culture of performance and outcomes presents an enormous obstacle for those that choose to sub-merge into inner city ministry. Innovative and creative strategies are outlined in the book to equip leaders who are interested in moving counter culturally into work amongst the poor.
At first impression, an observer might think that the author is advocating for everyone to move to inner cities around the world in order to become effective Christians by living incarnationally among the poor. Actually, while the author presents a good case for living purposefully as a Christian among the poor, he also presents a unique perspective on the advantages and disadvantages of this aspect of purposeful living. The stories in the book are very inspirational, and good stories move people to action. The author throws out a tremendous challenge to the body of Christ in the first part of the book, but then he seems to let up toward the end by describing in detail all of the many challenges and difficulties associated with sub-merging. So, the strategies about incarnational living are a strong point of the book, but the difficulties outlined can be perceived by the reader as discouraging.
I must admit that I have considered living incarnationally prior to reading this book. Ray Bakke and Robert Linthicum introduced this idea in books I had previously read on urban ministry. After reading this book, I really took a step back from everything to consider incarnational ministry as a calling. I have been equally torn between developing the property I live on (six acres) as a mentoring center for L.A.M.P., or moving to the east end of Pittsburgh to live incarnationally with the children and families that I am mentoring. I have actually delayed making a decision on this matter because I wanted to read books like this and spend time in Seattle for Overture I to gain a broader perspective on what God is calling me to.
The incarnational strategies really resonated with me, and I can see myself living in the city. On the other hand, I am now more interested in developing relationships with others who might want to sub-merge with me instead of obsessing over real estate. This book taught me that community is the key to incarnational ministry, although the actual location needs to be we well thought out.