CLC International (formerly Christian Literature Crusade) is an evangelical, interdenominational world mission. In the United States we are registered as a 501(C)(3) not-for-profit organization.
This organization was founded in England in 1941 and has its international headquarters there today.
In the early days of World War II, a young couple, Ken and Bessie Adams, were working with the Friends Evangelistic Band in England, visiting people in their homes to share the gospel. On many of these visits, they found that they had been preceded by others who left literature, especially the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Ken declared, “I cannot stand by and watch the spread of so much dangerous propaganda and not do something about spreading the truths of the Gospel.”
On 1 November 1941, fired by passion for literature distribution, Ken and Bessie Adams established “The Evangelical Publishing House” in a small rental space in Colchester, UK. This took place even when the government was severely limiting publishing and the opening of bookshops in wartime England.
The Adams believed in the transformative power of Christian literature and its ability to shape lives, and partnered to found CLC as an autonomous arm of WEC International, a global evangelistic organization founded by C.T. Studd. The organization’s primary goal was to distribute Christian literature to individuals and churches across the United Kingdom. By the end of the war, there were six literature centres across England and a work serving German Prisoners of War.
CLC Ministries offered a literature ministry to all branches of the church. “We will not let doctrinal differences hinder us from serving all denominations with their literature needs,” affirmed Ken. “But our position is to be uncompromisingly evangelical so that purchasers feel quite sure that all they see and buy will build up readers or point the unconverted to the Savior. Each book center should be first and foremost a spiritual powerhouse–workers out to win souls and help fellow Christians, this being more important than the sale of books. Branches of Christ’s church in the town should be made to feel that the shop belongs to all and is their service.”
Global Expansion and Impact
Driven by a growing vision to bring Christian literature to people around the world, Ken and Bessie Adams initiated the global expansion of CLC. Through the pioneering efforts of their colleague, John Davey, the first overseas CLC bookshop opened on the island of Dominica in 1947. Together with a dedicated group of overseas workers, they continued to establish bookshops in various countries throughout the world. Their dedication to providing quality Christian resources in different languages contributed to the growth of the organization.
In 1948, Ken and Bessie moved to North America to establish a new CLC USA headquarters in the Philadelphia area. Today, CLC serves in over 40 countries where men and women of diverse nationalities are joining hands to feed a world hungry for print. It is represented by more than 110 bookshops, 18 distribution warehouses and 18 publishing houses.
CLC International operates with many bookshops, publishing ventures, and ministries – all dedicated to distributing Christian literature and resources. Given that a large percentage of people coming to faith in Christ do so through the reading of a Christian book, CLC remains committed to Ken and Bessie Adams’ original vision of making Christian literature accessible to all, serving as a valuable resource for individuals, churches, and communities worldwide.
Through CLC, we desire to see people’s lives changed though making evangelical literature available to all nations so that people of all backgrounds may come to faith and maturity in Christ. Join our team today!
The Purpose of CLC is to make evangelical Christian literature available to all nations so that people may come to faith and maturity in the Lord Jesus Christ.
CLC is an evangelical world missions organization which emphasizes literature production and distribution to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is done through Christian bookstores, bookmobiles, translation work, publishing/printing, websites, ebooks and more. CLC works to serve the entire evangelical community and therefore has workers and materials that are from various denominational perspectives.
Faith
We exercise faith in the will, power and providence of God to meet every need for both the ministry and the members. Therefore, the expansion and outreach of this ministry is not determined by our visible resources but rather by the commands and promises of God.
Sacrifice
We recognize personal sacrifice and total dedication to be essential to the fulfilling of our God-given commission. We should be willing to face hardship, inconvenience, sickness, danger and even death if necessary, for the fulfillment of Christ’s command to make known the Gospel to all people. We should make every effort possible for the fulfilling of CLC’s purposes.
Fellowship
We are a fellowship of God’s people drawn from various backgrounds. We therefore allow no national or racial prejudices or exclusive denominational or doctrinal emphases in the life and ministry of CLC. We believe that within the fellowship of CLC the will of God can be known in all matters pertaining to His work. Therefore we expect that, as we seek Him, agreement can be attained within the fellowship in making decisions. We accept the teaching of Christ that the test of our discipleship is our love for one another. The fellowship principle within CLC means that each member should be sensitive to the needs and welfare of others and bear one another’s burdens in the spirit of love.
Holiness
We affirm our dependence upon the work of the Holy Spirit to fulfill our purpose, and shall ever seek His power and guidance by prayer, faith, obedience, humility and holiness. We take this to mean living with the supreme aim of pleasing God in thought, word and deed according to the standard of the Bible.
WE MAKE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE AND RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO ALL NATIONS
CLC is an international organization committed to the distribution of the Bible, Christian books and a variety of Christian media. Our teams are drawn from many nations, denominations and backgrounds. All are dedicated to serving the Lord Jesus Christ and to the task of helping others to know Him better through the materials we distribute.
At the Philadelphia area headquarters, CLC USA is a team of Christ followers who each serve the mission through a variety of gifts, from publishing, editing, administration, finance, accounting, leadership, maintenance, inventory, packaging, shipping, logistics, customer service, translating, and mobilizing so that the whole global Church is equipped in its witness in the world for Jesus Christ.
| Featured Image | Organization Name | Mission Name | No available Mission. |
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| Featured Image | Organization Name | Job Name |
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 | CLC USA | Distribution Coordinator |
 | CLC USA | Editor – CLC Publishing |
 | CLC USA | Maintenance Coordinator – Apprentice |
 | CLC USA | Graphic Designer/Typesetter – Fort Washington, PA, USA |
 | CLC USA | Bookkeeper / Accountant – Fort Washington, PA |
 | CLC USA | Multi-Language Media Coordinator – Fort Washington, PA |
| Featured Image | Organization Name | Internship Name | No available Internship. |
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