On this basis， Yu Guozhen， a Chinese Christian and priest，established the Association of Self-independence of ChineseChristian Churches in Shanghai in 1906. His aim of setting upthis organization was to spread the gospel more effectively. Hethought that the close relationship between the local churchesand the foreign missions had led to people"s misunderstandingthat belief in religion meant giving up patriotism， which harmedthe reputation of the churches. Only independence could eliminatethis misunderstanding. He also advocated the integration orunification of different churches. In 1910， he united the churchesthat were willing to become independent in Zhejiang and Jiangsuprovinces to form the General Association of Self-Independenceof Chinese Christian Churches with Shanghai as its headquarters.
After that， many independent churches were established one afteranother in Zhejiang， Fujian， Guangdong， Hubei and Hunanprovinces. After the Xin Hai Revolution， this association maderapid development. In 1920， when the first national conferenceof the association was held， 130 representatives from more than80 branches attended the meeting. The number of its brancheswas increasing on a year-to-year basis. By 1924， the association had altogether over 330 branches with about 20，000 believers.
In addition to the influence of the social environment， thereason why so many independent churches emerged in this periodwas also related to the fact that the human resources and economicconditions of the Christian churches had grown relatively mature.
After more than half a century"s development since Christianityhad entered China， therehad been lots of talentedC h i n e s e C h r i s t i a nleaders. In the early yearsof the 20th century，although the leadershipof the Chinese churcheswas still controlled by theforeign missionaries andforeign missions， thenumber of Chinese clergymen had also startedtogrow.
According to statistics inChina for Christ， in 1907 when the first National Conference of the Chinese Christian Churches was held， all ofthe 1，000 attendees were foreign missionaries. However， whenthe second national conference was held in 1913， one third wereChinese. By 1919， when the Conference of China For Christwas held， Chinese representatives reached half of all participants.
The Chinese Christian leaders had already shouldered part ofthe work in the churches， and in places where talented ChineseChristian leaders were relatively more concentrated， theleadership of the churches had been partly transferred to them.
Some patriotic religious leaders began to recognize the historicalmission they bore， and they did have the ability to lead the ChineseChristians to establish independent churches. The growth oftalented Chinese Christians had worked as an intellectual basefor the launch of the independence movement.
To the Chinese Christian churches， the foundation ofindependence was self-reliance. Without funds， independencecould only be an empty word. At that time， Chinese industry hadexperienced some development and some patriotic industrialistsand businessmen had become the mainstay for the self-relianceof the churches. For example， Liu Shoushan， initiator of theQingdao Independence Church， was an industrialist engaged inreal estate and construction， who invested a lot in the church. Another priest named Wang Yuande， who had once worked inauto industry， also gave great financial support. Most of theindependent churches were located in large or medium sized citiesin the relatively developed coastal areas. On the one hand， thechurch leaders and Christians in these areas were more skillfulin management， and on the other hand， the churches could haverelatively more reliable sources of funds. The independentchurches in southern China like Hong Kong， Guangdong andFujian Provinces mainly relied on the support of overseas Chineseand had little problem in their financing. It proved thatindependent churches could hardly stick to their objectives whenthey were caught in financial difficulties， which could only leadto two results： either to go bankrupt or to resume their relationswith the foreign missions. For instance， Shanghai Zha Bei Churchfell into financial difficulties after it had lost some of its richmembers‘ support. It could not even afford the printing expensesof its newspaper.
