NWMC began over one hundred years ago following an ecumenical Young People's Missionary Conference at Lake George, New York. Six members of the United Presbyterian Church in North America were in attendance and decided to try their own event to encourage young people to participate in mission. The new Westminster College president offered the campus for a week in 1906. Since then, through the depression, the world wars and the peaceful times, Conference has been held at Westminster College.

      In the beginning, Hillside Dormitory became the center for "bed and board" and the meetings were held in the United Presbyterian Church building. As the numbers grew, other dorms housed the girls and adults, while the boys moved to tents. The dining facilities were in "Old 77", the college gymnasium, and the temporary kitchen was in the street in front of the gym. The main meeting place moved from the church building to the Big Tent, erected every year for that week. Today, delegates stay in dormitories and eat in the college dining halls with mass meetings held in Anderson Auditorium, the permanent amphitheater on campus overlooking Brittain Lake.

       One of the purposes of Conference has always been to recruit and encourage young people to serve Christ on the mission field. In this it has been most successful. Hundreds of young people have accepted the challenge to work in missions in the United States and overseas some to "short terms", others for careers.