To the Christian churches， the large-scale bloodshed seen in theuprising of the Yi He Tuan Movement not only frustrated them，but also was a wake-up call. Considering the grave lessons， manymissionaries look at their own past wrongdoing， looking squarelyat their own problems and trying to change in order to end Chinesepeople"s discontent and rebuild the social image of Christianity.
Even Western missionaries themselves acknowledged thatChristianity， protected by the unequal peace agreements andsuspected to have been involved in politics， was strongly opposedby most of the Chinese people. Therefore， an Americanmissionary called Arthur Smith pointed out： "Christianity mustgain people"s acknowledgement， reverence， consent andacceptance before it can win a strong foothold in China‘。 Heaccepted that the criticism of the missionaries that they wereexcessively interested in politics and the indictments were "fair‘and that the Christian churches must show introspection in regard to their own actions. Talking about foreign missionaries‘involvement in the eight-power allied forces‘ military actions，another American missionary F.L. Hawks noted： "Whenresponding to this accusation， at least we are afraid that the RomanCatholic missionaries have to admit their crimes. They are guiltyof engaging themselves to the political affairs.‘ After the Yi HeTuan Movement， the British and American governments and theChristian churches themselves worked out correspondingrestrictions on the interference in political and diplomatic affairs.
In the light of the order of the British government， the Britishembassy and consulate to China issued a notice that prohibitedmissionaries from directly interfering in their believers‘ civilaffairs. When interference seemed necessary， it should be carriedout by the local consul. A German newspaper in Shanghai alsoclaimed that missionaries should not be engaged in work otherthan introducing Christianity， otherwise they would be punishedand expelled. And the missionaries themselves also came to knowthat some of the admitted Christians were not qualified and thuswere more careful than before about getting involved in theircases. Thus， the number of conflicts between the people and thechurches sharply declined and missionary cases graduallysubsided.
The missionaries in China also came to know that it wasnecessary to reform the old ways of preaching in order toeliminate the Chinese people"s hatred and exclusivist attitudeforeigners in general and missionaries in particular. In the 19thcentury， most of the missionaries adhered to the traditional waysof preaching， such as teaching doctrines and distributing religioustracts， etc. In this way， the admitted believers were mainly peoplein the middle or lower classes of society， or even old and weakpeople who lived on religious relief. Therefore， Christianityobtained little social influence in spite of the increase in thenumber of believers. And most importantly， the intellectuals andpeople in the upper classes commonly held Christianity incontempt. In the early part of the 20th century， through theirown experiences， some missionaries came to recognize that theexpected effects could not be realized by preaching alone andthe ways of spreading the faith must be changed. Some proposedto run schools and to be actively involved in the social affairs soas to reform the society and win people"s hearts. Allen Young， anAmerican missionary， was this type. He was once engaged intranslating English books and teaching English. In the course ofdisseminating Western culture， he found it more acceptable bythe Chinese people especially the intellectuals to enlighten their minds first， then transform the Chinese culture and finallyproselytize them. Therefore， he was keen to carry outundertakings like education and publishing. The Britishmissionary Timothy Richard was also a man of this type whoactively engaged in activities of education， publication anddisaster relief. After the Yi He Tuan Movement disappeared， someliberal missionaries recommended the U.S. government to speedup fostering pro-American intellectuals by utilizing theindemnities prescribed in the Xinchou Treaty to support moreyoung Chinese students to study in the U.S. and to establishschools in China. In 1906， Arthur Smith reported to the thenU.S. President Roosevelt on the Chinese political situation，claiming that the best way to prevent movements like Yi He Tuanfrom happening again was to disseminate Christianity and setup church schools， and suggesting the return of some indemnitiesfor the Qing government to establish schools. His suggestionswere appreciated by President Roosevelt. Afterwards， the U.S.
government did indeed spend some part of the indemnitiesestablishing Tsing Hua University， and Timothy Prichard utilizedthe indemnities to force the Shanxi government to establishShanxi University. Meanwhile， the British and Americanchurches stepped up the dispatch of missionaries to China to run schools， hospitals and charities. The Chinese church universitiesmade rapid progress in both quantity and quality. They taughtWestern culture and science， which objectively conformed tothe Chinese people"s needs for reform and development. Thereligious teachings in these schools also helped make Christianityacceptable to some young students， leaving others， if notnecessarily believing， but at least favorably disposed towards it.
Consequently， Christian churches made rapid development inthis period.