The China Centenary Missionary Conference was held from April 25 to May 8 of 1907 in Shanghai in commemoration of the hundredth anniversary of the arrival of Robert Morrison, the first Protestant missionary to China. According to the Index of Missions released during the conference, 25 mission bodies with a Lutheran background were working in China. The Boxer Rebellion of 1900 and other experiences acted as an impetus to encourage the various Lutheran bodies to unite into a single organisation to effectively work in China. The entrance of new Lutheran missions into China after 1907 like the Evangelical Lutheran Mission for China or 福音道路德教 (1913), the Lutheran Free Church Mission or 信義公理會 (1917) and the Church of Sweden Mission or 湘北瑞華信義會 (1918) added an extra sense of urgency to the need for a nationwide Lutheran union.