For the first 3/4 of this book, I kept thinking, "I really wish I had read this book years ago before I first stepped on a foreign missions field." I know, that's impossible since the book came out just two months ago. Still. This book does a great job of explaining why it is necessary to put in the hard work of theological training, language learning, and learning of (and adapting to) the culture you are intending to reach. There truly is "No Shortcut to Success" and he does an excellent job of laying out why it is necessary for a person to spend multiple years in one location before they can truly even begin to be effective.

Matt Rhodes also adds a valuable counterweight to DMM and CPM and such trends that are all the rage in the Muslim world today. He is right that this trend, when taken at face value, does far more harm than good. Yes, if at all possible missionaries need to live among those they are called to serve. Yes, discipleship and mentoring of local leaders need to be happening and these movements seem to be pushing for the opposite. Yes, he is right that these movements do seem to be little more than the Christian missions' version of "get rich quick" schemes.

But he tends to be a bit more critical than I would be. In fact, one thing I noticed happening over and over in this book is that Rhodes would say some version of "I don't mean to criticize but..." and then he would go right back to criticizing some more. Anyways, one example from my own experience of why I don't fully agree. Rhodes makes it clear that you can't just give someone a Bible and then hope for the best. Usually, this is true but there is a time and a place. I was once on a bus and ended up in a conversation with two others. One of them shortly got off, but I continued talking to a university-age girl for a while. Before leaving going our separate ways, I showed her how to install the Youversion Bible app on her phone. Then I thought nothing more of it until more than six months later I found out she randomly showed up at a local church in her town already a believer telling about how an American with horrible Turkish told her she needed to read this book. And that book put a fire in her soul.

What really disappointed me about this book was not that he was overly critical about missions trends that need a little more criticism. What really disappointed me was that in the final 1/4 of this book, Rhodes goes off the rails. He says that our calling should be based on practical wisdom and not mystical calling. If that was the case I wouldn't be in Turkiye right now. Practical wisdom said when I was kicked out, I should have begun looking in a new direction. But I had a "mystical calling" that I wasn't done here... so I got on a plane and headed back fully expecting to be turned around at passport control. He also said we need to pray less. I quote, "Prayer is not the greater work... the amount of prayer isn't important... there are times when we should pray less." And we shouldn't fast so much. I quote, "Our intense emphasis on prayer and fasting had interfered with our ability to learn Arabic." And married missionaries shouldn't go to dangerous areas of the world. And persecution is God telling us we should move somewhere else, after all, every time Paul was persecuted he packed up and went to a different city. And we shouldn't seek the gift of tongues.

Basically, for Matt Rhodes, it appears to be an either/or proposition. Either we can dig down deep, plant roots, and put in the long hard work of slow, steady but also sure progress. Or we can try to be superspiritual and look for a miraculous big quick thing from God. This is a false dichotomy. Pray more. But then when you are done praying, get up and do the work. Fast more. But then after your fast, spend a meal with your neighbors. Pray in tongues. But also learn to be fluent in the local language. Be faithful. Be consistent. Plod on, doing the slow steady hard work Matt Rhodes so beautifully calls us to. But don't for a second stop believing that miraculous revivals can and still do happen in our day.

In a quick-fix society, people want fast results and easy solutions. If there are short-cuts, take it. If not, make one. This has unfortunately impacted the philosophy of Christian missions. Thinking that modern methods could spark a quick and easy approach toward missions, many people are looking for ways to bypass traditional approaches by adopting quick-fixes and practices. This has appeared in various forms that seem logical at a superficial level but lack foundations. Author Matt Rhodes gives a critical analysis on the popular shortcuts being adopted in many modern approaches to missions. Some feel that professionalism is to be avoided in favor of relational skills. Others prefer speed or silver bullet strategies. Still there are some who are skeptical of anything too "intellectual" or "academic." The temptations are real. Just hearing about "amazing successes" from anecdotal sources might scupper any attempts to be trained in the traditional ways. Such sources tempt planners with numbers like some success story. Rhodes critiques the Church Planting Movements for their overemphasis on rapid growth instead of biblical shepherding. He questions the notion of a DNA for rapid growth, saying that they prioritize sociology over theology. In a nutshell, such approaches tend to be based on management over biblical principles; numbers over patience; results over means; and human expectations over spiritual movements.

In a nutshell, the author shows us that there is no shortcut when it comes to doing God's work in missions. There is no substitute for competence, diligence, and conscientious equipping work. Going back to the Bible, Rhodes show us a better and more biblical approach. A missionary is an ambassador for Christ. That means to establish "Christ-centered churches" that are mature and will multiply in an enduring way. It means to clearly communicate the gospel just like the disciples in the New Testament, clearly, credibly, and boldly. He supplies several milestones in the ministry of missions. Milestones that connect missionaries with their churches in prayer, in dialogue, and in ongoing support. That also includes adequate training and equipping in Bible, practical skills, language, worldviews, communication skills, etc. That is discipleship and spiritual growth for missions. While the work might seem mundane and dependent on training the human person, that does not mean the Holy Spirit is absent from such endeavors. It does not mean the supernatural is absent.

My Thoughts
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This is a needed pushback against the many expectations of a "fast-food" mentality in our world, even among churches keen to see a return on their investment. There is no substitute for plain hard work and biblical training. Moments of miraculous intervention do not just occur according to our expectations. They occur when we are faithfully working out the will of God and exercising the gifts we have been given. Christians should not over-amplify the work of the Spirit just to downplay the importance of theological training and missionary equipping. Just like doctors who need to go to medical school before they are qualified, missionaries too need to go through the training schools in order to be ready for the mission field. There are cases of miraculous equipping of individuals that led to numerous conversions, but those are the exceptions rather than the norm. The thinking believer should not depend on anecdotal evidence to form a whole new doctrine of missions. For that matter, just because one has memorized John 3:16 does not mean one ignores the 66 books of the Bible! Simplicity is good but not simplistic thinking. Desiring success is fair but not at the expense of biblical criteria. Wanting quick results must not supersede our dependence on the Holy Spirit. Remember how Jesus told the disciples in Acts 1:8 to wait in Jerusalem for the coming of the Holy Spirit?

Rhodes has reset our modern expectations in an engaging and readable way. By pointing out the dangers of over dependence on modern methods and rapid expectations, he shows us the relevance of William Carey's wise words to attempt great things for God and to expect great things from God. The expecting should not cloud our understanding of the attempting. God will work in ways we least expect. While we wait, let us wait actively but being faithful in equipping ourselves to share the gospel, both in our local as well as foreign contexts. Short-cuts are nice to have. However, they are more the exceptions rather than the norm.
Matt Rhodes grew up in San Diego, California, and has lived in North Africa since 2011. He and his wife, Kim, serve as part of a church-planting team to a previously unengaged people group.

Mark Dever (PhD, Cambridge University) is the senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, and president of 9Marks (9Marks.org). Dever has authored over a dozen books and speaks at conferences nationwide. He lives in Washington, DC, with his wife, Connie, and they have two adult children.

Rating: 4.5 stars of 5.

conrade
This book has been provided courtesy of Crossway Publishers and NetGalley without requiring a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

No Shortcut to Success offers up a sane, comprehensive vision for the missionary task that relies on Spirit-empowered, faithfully plodding, ordinary humans using ordinary means to make disciples and plant churches and rejects the modern missiological equivalents of get-rich-quick schemes. Rhodes advocates for going deep in language and culture, direct involvement with nationals, prolonged commitment to an assignment, discipleship using the whole counsel of Scripture, literacy advocacy, and more. His corrective is much-needed in the missions world and I found myself nodding in agreement with nearly all of Rhodes’ observations and arguments. In fact, I wish I had written this book!

And yet reading this book was no mere exercise in confirmation bias. Several points challenged my own missiological assumptions, spurring me to pursue greater faithfulness in the task, and I learned some things as well (I had never made the connection between the glory Paul mentions in 2 Cor 4:17 and the work of the Spirit in the lives of the Corinthians, for example). And while I affirm nearly all of Rhodes’ larger arguments, a few of his emphases left me scratching my head. For example, his insistence using the word “professional” struck me as a strange hill on which to die. To be sure, Rhodes seeks to mitigate the negative connotations of that word for missions and ministry (See John Piper’s Brothers We Are Not Professionals). But using the word prejudices his argument from the outset, not only with the movement methodology advocates he critiques (who will probably reject most of his arguments anyway), but also with those being influenced by movement advocates (who might otherwise be more receptive to his correctives). Movement advocates need only say with a roll of the eyes, “Oh, you mean ‘professionals’ like the fisherman Peter and John??” in order to shut down the discussion. Any discussion the book generates among movement advocates will likely focus on contrasting Rhodes’ “professional” approach with an “every member ministry” approach that releases the priesthood of all believers to go and make disciples, thus easily dismissing the other important things Rhodes has to say. Why not opt for a word like “skillful” or “competent” instead?

Similarly, the extent to which Rhodes, in a penultimate chapter on the role of the Spirit in missions, seeks to correct discourse on prayer and fasting in missions circles could leave the reader (wrongly) feeling that Rhodes believes prayer is altogether unimportant. The cause for such a misunderstanding would be a rhetorical approach Rhodes continually uses of initially stating his arguments boldly and with little nuance in order for them to land with force. Finally, some of the terms Rhodes uses—chief among these being “national partner”—would benefit from expanded definition and clarity. But now I’m on the verge of over-correcting myself.

This really is a great book (4.5 stars for the weaknesses mentioned, rounded up)! While I wish I had written it, I’m grateful it is written and I hope it finds a wide audience. It will definitely be my go-to resource to commend to prospective missionaries.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher without an expectation I write a favorable review.

No Shortcut to Success looks at the church’s current strategies for missions in “closed” and hard to reach places. I appreciated the author’s humble posture towards those he disagrees with—acknowledging their desire to spread the gospel while still questioning their methods.

While I have some different views than the author, he makes a compelling case based on Scripture. (Probably the area most lacking—in my opinion—was his section on prayer. He seems to leave behind some of the logic of his book when he talks about prayer.)

I think Andy Johnson (who is quoted in the book) sums up the heart of No Shortcut to Success well: “Far too many of our books, articles, trainings, and conversations seem to operate at the level of ‘what works’ rather than ‘what is most faithful to Scripture.’”

Overall I would recommend this book to anyone interested in missions or involved in sending others to the mission field.