Our story
"I cannot stand by and not do something
about spreading the truths of the gospel."Ken Adams
Our story starts with a wedding.
In the early days of World War II, businessman Ken Adams married Bessie Miners, a fisherman's daughter from Cornwall. This young couple had a passion for sharing the message of Christianity in rural communities by holding Bible meetings and visiting homes.
Over time, Ken and Bessie became convinced that Christian literature could have a great impact if it was made more widely available.
Fired by this passion for distributing Christian books, Ken rented some upstairs rooms in Colchester and founded The Evangelical Publishing House. The government was severely limiting publishing and book-selling in wartime England, so the Adams partnered with WEC International.
Requests and opportunities began to pour in and on 1st November 1941, CLC was established with a view to establishing more bookshops around the country. By the end of the war, there were six CLC literature centres in England and one centre serving German prisoners of war.
Over the last 75 years, CLC has continued to grow by God's grace. Today CLC serves in over 50 countries, fulfilling Ken and Bessie's vision of spreading the truths of the gospel.