Librairie chretienne CLC Canada Christian Bookstore

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CLC in Canada - Yesterday and Today

1948	The first Canadian CLC store opens in Ontario.
1953	The Christian Literature Crusade settles in the Province of Quebec, in Montreal. It is strictly an English bookstore.
1968	A French department opens in the existing bookstore, in the small building on Mackay street.
1980	CLC moves to Guy Street. Finally there is a true francophone bookstore in Montreal. As a matter of fact, it is almost like two bookstores in one building, one in each of the official languages.
1983	CLC opens another store in the city of Quebec- the capital of the Province. The headquarters of the mission are located in Ontario, while the majority of workers are in Quebec.
End 1989	An important general meeting takes place. With the help of our International Office, we decide to close the centre in Ontario and to make Montreal the new general headquarters for the mission in Canada.
1991	Move from Guy street and purchase of our present building on St Catherine street in Westmount.
1994	The bookstore in Quebec city closes due to a lack of workers and very low revenues from sales.
1995	Purchase of Video La Bergerie, which becomes the distribution branch of video material for CLC Canada.
1996	CLC Canada is no longer supervised by CLC France, due mainly to problems of distance. CLC goes under the supervision of CLC International until its staff is made up of 5 active missionary members (6 full-time in Montreal since early this year).
2000	Full scale renovation of our downtown store's main floor. Many projects took place to maximize our second floor: warehouse outlet, Internet office, reading room, etc.
2001	Opening of the first francophone web site by a CLC mission; an English section is also underway; opening of our new location (CLC-Ahuntsic) in May.

Our Ahuntsic Store

Part of our Video and DVD selection

Perspectives for the future

The needs of CLC Canada are not very original: the lack of workers is great here. Canada is a huge country, and Quebec alone is 5 times the size of France. Of course, only part of that space is inhabited, but churches far away from big centres like Montreal or Quebec city, expect some help. CLC Canada has a role to play in the Province of Quebec. We hope that the opening of our website will partly contribute to churches and individual Christians in those far away regions.

Our story

The initials CLC stand for Christian Literature Crusade, an interdenominational literature mission made up of people from many backgrounds, denominations and nationalities. CLC was born in Colchester, England in 1941 when some Christians in the area responded to the influx of literature being sold from door to door by non-Christian organisations.

Our Downtown Store in Westmount

Since those small beginnings CLC has developed into a Christian literature mission working in over 50 countries around the world, and still expanding each year to new areas. CLC has over 700 workers operating in over 150 centres and 40 mobile units in over 45 countries. Literature in over 70 languages is distributed. More than 130 countries are being reached through mail order services. Magazine evangelism is also undertaken - the "Caribbean Challenge" is one of the West Indies' most popular magazines.

Our workers

Our policy is that each of the countries where CLC works is run autonomously using local personnel. The work around the world is co-ordinated by our International Office located in Sheffield in the UK. Our International Secretary is Neil Wardrope. He is supported by a team of 'Area co-ordinators' (each responsible for a geographical area) who help him maintain links of fellowship between CLC personnel around the world.

CLC-Downtown since the renovations

Our difference

So what makes us different from other Christian Bookshops? Externally we hope nothing: our aim is to provide a caring and professional service aimed at teaching by providing material for local churches, and reaching out to the unconverted.

We strive to create user-friendly, non- threatening shops, mainly in city centre locations, where customers feel free to browse and ask questions.

Part of our music selection at our store in Ahuntsic

The less obvious aspect of our work is the funds we provide to develop work overseas, spreading Christian literature wherever there is a need. For instance, over the last 5 years we have opened a bookshop in Katowice in Poland and a warehouse in Belarus - there is also the ongoing work of supporting through subsidy a bookshop in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Other projects have included initiating two Bible projects in Romania and the provision of Bibles to African Bible colleges.

Our mission

CLC's mission is to make evangelical literature available to all the nations, so that people may come to faith and maturity in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is achieved by a network of strategically located bookshops, wholesale distribution centres, publishing programmes and administration centres, and now we are proud to spread the word using the internet.

How do we do it?

Sometimes by recruiting and training missionary and national workers to continue to produce and distribute evangelical Christian literature and to encourage its promotion and distribution through individual Christians.
Our vast selection of Bibles...
By developing more literature opportunities in North and South America, the West Indies, Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Australia and the Pacific.
By encouraging prayer for CLC around the world.
By opening Christian Literature Centres in towns and cities of the world where present facilities either do not exist or are inadequate. Such book centres and their premises to be used for evangelism and missionary activities in cooperation with all evangelical groups in the area.
By equipping and maintaining mobile units (in countries where we have them) for the sale and distribution of Christian literature.

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