Editor’s note: We asked Matt Rhodes to respond to the International Mission Board’s critique of his book No Shortcut to Success: A Manifesto for Modern Missions. The reader can find the review here.
I wrote No Shortcut to Success: A Manifesto for Modern Missions to emphasize professionalism in missions and the human means God uses to reach the nations. These means include Bible training, language and cultural mastery, and long-term service.
I knew the book would encounter controversy since it addresses disputed issues in today’s missions world. Yet even with that expectation, I was surprised to read the recent review by Zane Pratt, the International Mission Board’s (IMB) vice president of training, and Mark Stevens, the IMB’s Director of Field Personnel Orientation, for the Board’s missions journal. I’ll begin with the review’s final sentence:
. . . our concerns with how Rhodes misrepresents his sources outweigh the book’s benefits. These misrepresentations are so egregious that we are compelled to recommend that no one read, distribute, or teach from this book.[1]
I am grateful to Pratt and Stevens for interacting seriously with No Shortcut and for the positive comments they make. They say the book offers “much
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