the issue is what are missions for? and this is key to how they dhould be conducted. as you rightly say above aid relief is indeed a short term much needed intervention…but not a substitue for long term re-development work in cultural appropriate ways.
similalry in evangelistic work short term mission can be a great experience for the team and can be a good part of what a host church does as part of it’s ongoing mission programme, but it is a very bad stratergy as the mission programme! trouble is it is still too common for mission teams to be sent to ‘do the mission’ on a short term basis with no proper understanding of local culture and false expectations both in the recieiving church and the sedning group. the result is often a failure of mission and the discussion righlty points that up.