CLC World Magazine, 2018 - 2019 World Report

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G -2019 A ZWorld I N E 2018 Report

Your support allows us to make evangelical Christian literature available around the world.

This helps thousands of people each day progress on their spiritual journey to know God.

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Project Update – Bibles going to print!

More than bookshops...

For me it is a pleasure to present the CLC International World Report for the year 2018.

In this report you will see that although CLC’s ministry mainly consists of operating bookshops, our work sometimes takes the most diverse forms and strategies to meet the needs of the communities where we serve, and fulfil CLC’s purpose of making Christian literature available to all nations for people to come to faith and reach maturity in Christ Jesus.

I recently visited our team in Ecuador and learned about a silent evangelistic and discipleship work with literature that the President of our board in Ecuador and his wife are doing. This committed couple lead small reading groups for people who have not had the ‘new birth’ experience and do not regularly attend a church. These groups meet weekly with the initial aim of talking about a good book provided by CLC. The titles they work with vary to maintain the interest of the participants. Those who attend these groups not only create bonds of friendship but, in a natural way, they open their hearts to the transforming message of the Gospel.

Also, our team in Ecuador, in alliance with other Christian organisations in the country, is

organising a missionary trip to the indigenous community of the Huaoranis in the Ecuadorian Amazon. CLC plans to provide two complete libraries for the community where there are still no churches, in addition to clothing and food. In conjunction with the Thompson Bible International Institute, CLC will also provide training for the new leadership of this indigenous community.

These are just two examples of how, on a daily basis, thousands of books and Bibles are placed in the hands of people who need to know a message that transforms lives.

Every month, tons of Christian literature is distributed around the world, fulfilling the task entrusted to us by Jesus.

This report is simply a small sample of the work that CLC International carries out in 47 countries around the globe. If God puts it in your heart to help us fulfil His mandate, please contact us to learn about the opportunities and projects.

Blessings,

Gerardo Scalante, CLC International Director

Please note: Approximate population statistics shared in this magazine are from the CIA World Factbook, and the precentage of Evangelical Christians are via Operation World.

Contributions from:

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‘The Team’

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Gerardo Scalante Gary Chamberlin A Z I N E Petra Nemansky Hervé Lessous CLC Directors / team members around the world

Editing by: • • • •

Sheena Wardrope Jacqui Burne Cindy Norman Amanda Lutes

Graphics by: • Alessandra Platania • Amanda Lutes 3

News CLC Publications: Belief in a God You Can’t See For some time CLC has been searching for a quality evangelistic booklet to translate into multiple languages.

We are delighted that we found the booklet Belief in a God You Can’t See, which many countries have decided to publish. It is an evangelistic title written in an apologetic style by American author, Timothy Cross.

The booklet should be available by the end of 2019 in Bulgarian, Burmese, French, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Korean, Polish, Russian, Tamil, and in English for India, Kenya and The Philippines.

Pray with us that it will be a blessing to thousands of people in the coming years.

Top-right photo: Timothy Cross (L) is with Gary Chamberlin (R) holding the Italian version of the book “Credere in un Dio Che non si Vede.”

CLC Ecuador: Indeed, more than just bookshops Early one morning, an extremely upset man came into one of the bookshops. He needed support in a difficult situation.

The previous day he had cheated on his wife, and he felt very unhappy and unclean. He said he came to the bookshop because it was a refuge for him.

We gave him some advice. We recommended books appropriate for his situation. Then, we prayed for him.

On the right, a shelf with books about marriage and family in a CLC bookshop in Ecuador 4

CLC Korea: Reaching out to North Koreans Lewis and Elsbeth Codington are based in Seoul, South Korea; they have a desire to reach out to North Koreans living in the South.

The North Koreans are often disoriented and marginalised in South Korea, causing many to struggle. The North and South Korean languages are different as the South has incorporated many western words.

Lewis and Elsbeth have been able to start Bible study with some North Korean students. The Bible they use is bilingual – English and a North Korean version originally commissioned by Kim Il Sung (the first North Korea dictator).

The students find this version of the Bible more accessible. This underlines the need for people to read the Bible in their mother tongue.

Photos on the left: Elsbeth and the North Korean students studying the Bible.

CLC Colombia: The value of a Bible Meet Matías (photo on the left), the 9 year old boy living in the village of Palestina, on the north coast of Colombia, who saved for one year in order to buy a Bible. From a poor background, he started selling mangoes and carrying out tasks in his neighbourhood to earn the necessary money.

On a book mobile trip the CLC workers discovered that Matias had been waiting for them so he could buy his Bible, which he keeps reading and always carries around with him.

In October, CLC Colombia will invite him to a meeting with over 150 booksellers attending.

CLC Switzerland: CLC Publications In 2018 the full version of Billy Graham’s book, Peace with God, sold well.

But it was the 100-page, shorter version printed by CLC Italy (photo on the right) that was most popular.

A single church bought hundreds of copies to use in evangelism.

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The Caribbean & North America: Antigua: Population: 96,000 (19.9% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1961 Ministry: 1 Bookshop Manager: Arah Martin (pictured below) Bestsellers: My Prayer Book, Prayer Reign 2018 had its challenges, but we also saw victories and battles won. Sadly, a freak wave capsized the fishing boat with Eurel Hodge, our retired CLC bookshop manager, and his friends on board. Although he was a strong swimmer, Eurel did not survive.

Despite struggles with health problems ourselves, we were able to pray for so many others with problems, such as issues with health, marriage and children.

We will continually give God glory for He has been good.

We are grateful to have a good level of stock and receive book consignments from the USA in a timely manner.

During the year we held book tables, promoted our ministry through local media and had in-store sales. Some sales, and clearance of older stock, take place on tables on the street outside the shop. We also upgraded the exterior of the shop in 2018.

Monday - Antigua:

Please pray with us for more openings for book tables in churches and for the possibility Week 23 of having a mobile bookstall.

We will need someone with a heart for this kind of ministry to help us.

Tuesday - Barbados:

Please pray for the provision of funds needed to do some vital repair work to the CLC building, particularly the roof, and to improve security.

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The Thompson Bible Seminar

Barbados: Population: 293,000 (34.2% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1957 Ministry: 1 Bookshop Manager: Wilbert Charles Bestsellers: KJV Bible, The Man God Uses, Pilgrim’s Progress We are aware of the scripture text that speaks to the sovereignty of God - that all things work together for good (Roman 8:28) - but at times I am perplexed about what is happening in our stores. However, as Asaph stated, it is only as we find ourselves at the throne of grace that we understand.

The year in review for Barbados has had its challenges. Cutbacks in our public sector have caused some setbacks for us. Our sales dropped by approximately 9.5%, and, at the end of our financial year, we are still indebted to our creditors. Though these things transpired, we were able to partner with the Thompson Bible Institute and arrange the first Thompson Bible Seminar in Barbados. It was well received by participants. We hope to do this again in the next year or two.

We are grateful to see new customers. We have made some improvements to the store through donations that were given to the work in kind. This means we now have a much-needed air conditioning unit, a tent for our outdoor book tables and better lighting in the main store.

Encouraging Story from Barbados CWR usually sends us samples of new titles, and one such title was Insight into Forgiveness.

A customer was given this book, and she came

Trinidad & Tobago:

Dominica:

Population: 1.2 million (20.2% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1951 Ministry: 5 Bookshops Manager: Sandra Robinson Bestsellers: Prayers that Rout Demons, Prayer Rain, The Rules of Engagement

Population: 74,000 (16.8% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1947 Ministry: 1 Bookshop Manager: David Laudet Bestsellers: Prayers that Rout Demons, Prayer Rain, The Broadman Minister’s Manual

2018 was a very challenging year for CLC Trinidad and Tobago. We had severe flooding throughout the country during September and October, which resulted in closure of stores at times and a shortage of staff as travel between home and work was affected. Our national crime rate has also increased with the highest number of murders registered since 2008.

With sales decreasing, I gave the store managers a challenge for the months of October to December. Each shop team was asked to set a budgeted income for those months and send me a plan as to how they would accomplish it.

Once again, we praise the LORD for His mercy and faithfulness. Our ministry of evangelism is ongoing. We have a heart for souls and so we continue to tell others about the love of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Our annual ‘Bible Day’ evangelistic event in the bookshop is an important part of the year. Bible readings and prayers for the nation are read from a speaker outside the shop, and inside the shop visitors participate in Bible games and quizzes. This event is much appreciated by customers and is a means to spread the gospel message.

We do not have a website, but we keep in contact with customers via Facebook and the local radio station. We also have a number of other events planned for next year that will help connect us to more people.

We are still in the process of looking for a new location for the store, but we know that the LORD is our way maker. Also, we need new shelving and stands to replace those destroyed by hurricane Maria in 2017.

Our way forward is clear - we will continue in prayer, worship, obedience and evangelism because we are ‘the book store that matters.’

The Shop

They were very innovative. In those three months, they achieved higher sales than the same period the previous year. Strategies included praying specifically, claiming God’s promises daily and scheduling daily and weekly promotions on social media, distributing flyers, and having special offers and sales.

We thank God that we have had no problems obtaining goods or paying for them this year and that we can maintain the best prices for our customers due to the volumes we are importing.

back rejoicing because it had helped her find freedom in forgiving others who she held in her heart for a long time.

Wednesday - Barbados:

We would value prayer that our books would meet the needs of the customers and that we would fulfill our mandate by reaching our nation with the gospel.

Thursday - Trinidad & Tobago:

Please pray for plans to launch a website, initially to introduce our stock and then for online sales at a later date. The website will be the International Office platform, but it will mean a lot of work for the local team to upload all the data. The manager of the bookshop in Point Fortin, Christon Nicholas, will be leading this project.

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Canada:

United States:

Population: 35.9 million (7.7% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1944 Ministry: 3 Bookshops, Publishing, Web sales, Wholesale Director: Antoine Roberge Bestsellers: Our Daily Bread, More than a Carpenter (CLC), My First Bible (CLC)

Population: 329.3 million (28.9% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1947 Ministry: 2 Bookshops, 1 Church-based shop, Web sales, Publishing, Wholesale, Multi-Language Media (MLM) distribution Director: David Scouler Bestsellers: Jesus Calling, Unshakable Hope, Fearless

We rebalanced our finances in the bookstores as our situation had become untenable—to the point that we were anticipating closure.

The efforts we made have now borne fruit.

Thanks to detailed financial planning, we were able to develop several scenarios of possible changes. This helped us to make administrative decisions that were tough, but they paid off.

As we come to the end of the fiscal year we are already anticipating a profit. We are grateful to the Lord for the recovery we are experiencing.

We now need to re-focus our subsidiary wholesale division, Video La Bergerie. This is a challenge because there is really very little room for us to expand as CLC Canada accounts for about 60–70% of all evangelical Christian literature in our province, Quebec.

We had the opportunity to lead a customer to Christ in one of the bookshops. The lady showed a real interest in Bibles, which led to the manager sharing the message of Salvation and how to receive Jesus as her personal Saviour. Despite a number of customers around her, she was happy for the manager to pray with her.

Friday - Dominica:

Please pray for the various events this year - either organised by CLC or ones that CLC will participate in. In May, CLC held a prayer breakfast for customers and, at the time of writing, plans are underway for a walk-a-thon with a focus on evangelism, giving out tracts - and keeping fit! Towards the end of the year there will be another CLC Bible Day held at the bookshop!

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We praise God for His leading through a difficult year of changes, beginning with the resignation of Dave Almack. We are grateful to Dave and Deb Almack for their years of service with CLC. In April, we elected David Scouler to serve as our National Director. We said goodbye to Dianne Desch, who entered into glory after a struggle with cancer.

Several departments were reorganised due to staff resignations, reassignments and retirement. God provided a volunteer Financial Director as well as an experienced accountant to replace Deb Almack.

A part-time Marketing Director and Managing Editor were both added to our staff.

We were blessed with BookLink volunteers, who helped prepare donated books for shipping to Dominica and Papua New Guinea.

In partnership with ‘Hiz Kidz Readerz,’ the staff from the Cedarbrook and Moorestown bookstores hosted a Hollywood-themed kick-off to a summer reading programme for youth on the CLC campus (photo below). We also gave away over 75 books to prisoners in response to requests for our publications.

Our desire to move toward stability in purpose and finances has led us to an increased dependence on God and to unite in more frequent and fervent prayer.

The Weekend - Dominica:

Please pray for the future of the bookshop as the uncertainty continues over how long we can go on renting the current premises.

Monday - Canada:

Our team is ageing, especially those in management positions.

We invite you to pray with us Week 24 that the Lord would lead us to the right person who could take on these responsibilities and lead the mission and ministry of CLC forward in the future.

Tuesday - United States:

In 2019, we are publishing our first bi-lingual New Testament in French/English for CLC Multi-Language Media. Please pray for this project.

Wednesday - United States:

Earlier this year, one of the two bookshops, CLC Moorestown, sadly had to close. Pray for stability for the team after a year of changes and restructuring within the staff and ministry.

Prayer Focus for this week continues on page 10

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From one of today’s most gifted and visionary communicators, for those who’ve been praying for years as well as those who want to pray but don’t know where to begin, How to Pray is the simple, inspiring guide you’ve been waiting for.

Asia / Pacific Region India: Population: 1.3 billion (2.2% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1954 Ministry: 21 bookshops, Publishing, Web sales, Wholesale Director: Justin Chellappan Bestsellers: Golden Bells, Sacred Songs and Solos, Bible Concordance in Tamil For more than 30 years, CLC has held book tables in the Women’s Christian College in Chennai. Praise the Lord we now have a permanent CLC book outlet there, and this is proving very worthwhile.

There have been challenges in the bookshops with dropping sales in a number of them. Also, at the end of the year, we had notification from the landlords of the bookshops in the port city of Visakhapatnam (Vizag) and in Mathikere, Bangalore, to leave. This was a concern, especially in Vizag where rental prices are high.

Regarding events during the year, we were invited to the ICMDA World Congress, which was arranged by medical doctors and held in Hyderabad. Around 850 delegates attended from all around the world. God gave us a good opportunity to display our Bibles and books, which was appreciated by the delegates and a great encouragement to our ministry.

At the beginning of the year, we published a book, Bible Interpretation, in Tamil. The book was dedicated in one of the largest churches in India, and we sold 500 copies at the event.

This was a great blessing.

In the photo above, the India Conference 2019.

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Indonesia: Population: 262.8 million (5.6% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1954 Ministry: 1 bookshop, Publishing, Wholesale Director: Donny Kairupan Bestsellers: Too Soon to Quit (CLC), Daily Devotional books, The Bible We praise God for the ministry, and we are thankful for the loyal customers who continue to come to the bookshop. Bibles and devotional material are always popular, and we have increased our stock of these products. However, sales in general have slowed and, sadly, we had to close our small bookshop in Cito Mall because the rent was so expensive. We are focusing on our principal bookshop now.

In October, we started renovations of the bookshop, both outside and inside, which should be completed early in 2019 (shop front pictured above). We hope the changes will attract more visitors and customers to the shop and bring new oportunities for growth. Included in the upgrade will be a new computerised system and the installation of CCTV. We published two titles by Warren Wiersbe— Another Chance in Life and Let’s Go. The book Too Soon to Quit, by the same author, was a best-seller for us this year.

A highlight of the year was the wedding of CLC member, Anthony Kairupan. We also had a visit from the CLC Asia Director, Romualdo Macinas, and his wife, Deedah. They came for meetings regarding the CLC work and were also able to attend the wedding.

Japan:

Korea (South):

Population: 126.2 million (0.5% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1950 Ministry: 6 bookshops, Web sales, Mobile Director: Satoru Nakano Bestsellers: A compilation of Christian radio messages, an essay from a pastor who is well known on Twitter

Population: 51.4 million (16.8% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1975 Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Publishing, Web sales, Wholesale Director: Young-Ho Park Bestsellers: The Principle of Team Ministry (CLC), The School of Obedience (CLC), After All, It’s All About The Word (CLC)

The new Sinkaiyako Bible translation that was launched in 2017 sold very well this year, both to churches and individual customers.

It was a pleasure to see these Bibles going out. However, due to the downturn in the Japanese economy, our sales continue to decline. People’s reading habits are also affecting our sales.

Despite the problems, we continue to work hard in our bookshops, and we maintain a regular mobile ministry from five of the six bookshops, delivering book orders, new titles, monthly magazines and other goods to churches, mission schools and other venues; this way we cover a number of cities and villages too. We also take books to some major events, like the Japan Keswick Convention, which has been running for 57 years and has connections with the original Keswick Convention in England.

We had a visit from Romualdo Macinas, CLC Asia Director, and Lewis Codington in October (photo on the right).

Thursday - India:

Praise the Lord for the new location for the Mathikere shop in Bangalore. It is smaller than the previous one but better situated, and not very far from the old shop. Please pray that both our existing customers and many new ones will find us.

Friday - India:

At the time of writing, we still need to relocate the shop in Vizag and would appreciate prayer for the ministry there. Another shop need that

2018 was a year of blessing for CLC Korea.

We had many CLC leaders visit us in order to sign the Memorandum of Understanding to enable them to translate and print The Tabernacle and the History of Redemption series of books by Rev Abraham Park in their own languages.

We had CLC leaders from eight countries visit Seoul to attend the ‘Proclaim 2018’ conference.

CLC Korea celebrated its 43rd birthday while we had the international guests with us.

Regarding staffing, there is a need to recruit full-time designers to join our team as two of the team of five had to leave us during the year.

The Publishing Department keeps very busy with 135 new titles and 40 reprints in 2018.

As well as the publishing, wholesale and bookshop, there are several related ministries that CLC Korea is very involved in. One of these is the Covenant Theological Seminary in Seoul.

Initiated by the CLC Director in the 1980s, it had to close for a while but reopened again in 2014. Of the students who attended the Seminary or took the course online recently, six of them have been ordained as pastors.

has been a subject for prayer for a while is our desire to have a CLC-owned bookshop in Purasawalkam, Chennai.

The Weekend - Indonesia:

Please pray that the newly renovated bookshop will be a blessing to customers and attractive to passers-by.

Praise the Lord for CLC’s presence in this country for almost 70 years, and we trust Him for the future of the work.

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Best Cover of the Year 2018 CLC Korea won the 2018 CLC Book Cover Design of the Year award at the CLC Publishing Meetings in March.

The winning title is Jesus, The Messiah.

The cover was designed by graphic artist, Immi Park.

The beauty of the cover is in its simplicity: it is a white matte cover with red embossed and shiny letters that spell the word Messiah. In black (between the letters M and E) is written vertically in Korean Jesus, the Messiah while the author’s name is the other writing in Korean.

In Korea many book titles are written in Korean as well as in English.

As CLC is publishing books in 25 languages across the globe, we are aware that excellent covers help promote books. Although it is true that you should not judge a book by its cover, a great one like Jesus, the Messiah certainly helps.

Please pray for CLC Korea and all of the other CLC countries that publish so that our work can be of a high standard.

Congratulations to CLC Korea Director Dr. Young Ho Park, graphic artist Immi Park and the entire CLC Korea team! Well done!

Gary Chamberlin

Photo above, from left to right: Carlos Cunha, Sung Park, and Cristi Cotovan holding the first three rankings of the 2018 CLC Book Cover Design of the Year.

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Top photos: 1) Graphic designer Immi Park (L), and CLC Korea Director, Dr. Young Ho Park (R) with the book Jesus, The Messiah. 2) Sohee Yoo (L), and Sung Park (R) at the CLC Publishing Meetings.

Mulheres Sem Nome Asemena Lui Hristos

by CLC Portugal,

by CLC Romania, 2nd ranked.

3rd ranked.

Myanmar:

Children at our book stall

Papua New Guinea: Population: 7 million (25.7% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1959 Ministry: 1 bookshop Director: Vere Babona Bestsellers: Our Daily Bread, books on prayer, fasting and spiritual warfare 2018 was both an exciting and challenging year for the ministry.

The 2018 APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meetings were held in Port Moresby in November, and we were offered the opportunity to run a Gift Stall for the visiting delegates from 21 countries. As well as gifts, we included some Bibles and books in our display. Although we did not sell any books, we had meaningful conversations about matters of faith with a number of people.

We struggled with sales throughout the year, which was disappointing, especially after all the raised expectations for more opportunities for small to medium-sized organisations as a result of the APEC meetings.

Even our annual National Book Week sales at the Christian school were very low despite the good children’s books we displayed.

We praise God for a palette of books (30 cartons) donated by Book Aid Australia in June. These books were well received by our people. Our bestsellers during the year came mostly from Book Aid titles.

Monday - Indonesia: Week 25

Praise God for the ongoing publishing work of CLC Indonesia. This year, the book, Sit, Walk Stand, by Watchman

Population: 55.6 million (5% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1992 Ministry: 1 bookshop, Publishing, Wholesale Director: Jacob Mung Bestsellers: Myanmar Study Bible (CLC), Bible Commentary (CLC), Bible Dictionary (CLC) The highlight for CLC Myanmar was the dedication of the Myanmar Study Bible on January 13. For this special day, we invited about 200 church leaders from different denominations. One of the contributors, Martin Manser, and his wife participated in the service, and Martin spoke about how God has opened the way for this Study Bible in Burmese to become a reality.

The Study Bible is the first and only Bible to be published in the country with permission from the government. It is also the first-ever quality Bible that is published specifically for use in discipleship. This will truly bless and transform the churches and the nation.

We have many challenges to face, including political instability and rising inflation, which went up to 40% during 2018. However, for the ministry, the big challenge is our need for more space as the publishing work continues to grow. We have an ongoing and serious need for a second bookshop in an accessible area of the city and a larger space for a warehouse.

Customers inside the bookshop

Nee and The Bible and the Meaning of Life by Christopher Flint will be published.

Tuesday - Japan:

Although our staff and funds are limited, we continue the ministry and want to find ways to work more closely with other publishers and wholesalers, and to support the churches.

Pray especially for our relationship with Word 13

Pakistan:

Philippines:

Population: 207.9 million (0.6% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1961 Ministry: 1 Bookshop Director: Sohail Javed Bestsellers: Believer’s Bible Commentary, Concordance and Bible Dictionary (Urdu)

Population: 105.9 million (12.3% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1957 Ministry: 6 Bookshops, Web Sales, Publishing, Wholesale, Mobile Director: Romualdo Macinas Bestsellers: Willmington’s Guide to the Bible, My Utmost for His Highest, Questions and Answers

2018 was not an easy year, but it was also a learning experience. The workload and the burden of staff changes were overwhelming at times. By God’s grace, we did plenty of work and had encouraging sales.

During this time, the Board of Directors helped us by sharing their knowledge and providing a loan to purchase 500 Bibles. There are many non-Christian students in the local University, and other religious institutes, who are interested in Biblical studies. They buy Bibles and books from us.

We have had difficulty with ‘land grabbers’ who attempt to illegally take over properties.

Their presence outside the bookshop is very uncomfortable for customers and passers-by.

After much prayer, they have finally moved away. It was not easy for the police to remove them. One person was shot in the process.

When our security guard left his job, the church arranged CCTV security cameras for the shop. We are very thankful to God that He kept us safe from all danger and harm. of Life Publishers with whom we work closely.

Please pray for encouragement and new opportunities for CLC Japan.

Wednesday - Korea:

In January, we held an Ancient Near East Theological Forum with Dr. John H. Walton, from Wheaton College, and other theological professors in Seoul. We had 450 guests join us for the event. Praise God for this opportunity, and pray as we plan another forum later this year.

Thank God for His sustaining grace for the ministry! 2018 was not an easy year. The inflation rate was at a 10-year high, and a new tax scheme affected the livelihood of many. Prices of commodities increased, the purchasing power of our currency weakened, and people’s incomes have not increased automatically.

We had several staff resignations, six in total, yet the Lord has a way of providing for our needs. We had more than 50 Senior High School OJT students come to us for ‘on the job training.’ This scheme is a requirement for a student to graduate; they fulfill 80 hours of work and receive a certificate of completion.

Generally, sales dropped noticeably in the Karuhatan bookstore and in wholesale. Sales at the annual Manila International Book Fair had tremendous decreases. However, some areas, such as online sales, CLC bookshops in Davao and Naga City, and sales in the CLC outlet in the FEBIAS Bible College showed some slight increases.

Despite the challenges, we conducted two seminars during the year—our annual DVBS (Vacation Bible School) and an Apologetics Seminar on the theme Can We Really Trust the Bible? Each seminar had more than 200 attendees.

Thursday - Korea:

Praise God for the recent ‘Proclaim 2018’.

We will be hosting the four-yearly CLC International Leadership Council in Korea in May next year. We need to plan ahead and prepare for the event. Your prayers for this would be appreciated.

Friday - Papua New Guinea: The Ancient Near East Theological Forum

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We plan to do monthly ‘mobile sales’ this year, starting with a small town two hours away from

Thailand: Population: 68.6 million (0.5% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1958 Ministry: 1 Bookshop Director: Don Veldboom (Interim) Bestsellers: The Thai Bible, Spiritual Discipleship, The Purpose Driven Life 2018 started off with many challenges, some of which are still ongoing, but we have seen much encouragement too.

We have new staff—a Thai couple, Amanda and Ken Intajuk, who have really been an asset. Within a short time of their arriving, we have seen sales increase by 50% and some profit as well. With the increase in sales, traffic flow and ministry opportunities increase. It has been so encouraging to see people come in and purchase Bibles for friends and family.

It has also been wonderful to see so many tracts being purchased—we sold over 20,000 Christmas tracts!

The visa we were supposed to have when we moved from the USA to Thailand was not available to us, so we came in under a different one. It was difficult for us when the immigration authorities came and told us we were not covered to work in the bookshop, despite the fact we were only in there on a voluntary basis. For several months during the year, we were unable to enter the bookshop until the correct visa was obtained.

Port Moresby. Please pray that these trips will be a blessing to the people there and for the CLC ministry.

The Weekend - Papua New Guinea:

We need more compact Bibles because of the growing need in Christian and public schools because of the Religious Education classes included in most schools in Port Moresby.

Please pray that CLC will have the means to supply these Bibles at an affordable price.

Monday - Myanmar: Week 26

CLC Myanmar desperately needs a larger facility for a warehouse and needs to open a second bookshop in a central and accessible location in Yangon.

Encouraging Story from Thailand Although the work has been outsourced, CLC Thailand has two book projects underway that we hope to see completed in 2019.

My Journey, the testimony of Josh McDowell, and Around the Wicket Gate by Spurgeon, have been translated into Thai. We hope these titles will encourage some of the many people we see ‘standing at the gate’ looking at Christianity. We hope these books will be used to help people make a decision for Christ.

This has been a prayer request for some time, and we continue to pray in faith for the Lord’s direction and provision in this matter.

Tuesday - Myanmar:

Please pray for the busy publishing department and the new titles planned for this year, including Gary Chapman’s book, The Five Love Languages. At the time of writing, there is a need for at least one more person to help with the translation work.

Wednesday - Pakistan:

Please pray for this year’s projects including printing two titles (Lee Strobel’s The Case for Faith and David Yonggi Cho’s The Fourth Dimension Vol. 2), renovating the bookshop and attending the annual Sialkot Convention with a large book table in September.

Thursday - The Philippines:

Please pray for opportunities to open a new bookshop and for finances to do this. Please pray also for our plans to improve, or perhaps even change, our website this year.

Friday - Thailand:

Amanda and Ken Intajuk will go to the CLC Asia Leaders’ Conference to be held in the Philippines (August 12–16) to represent CLC Thailand. This will be a new and, hopefully, very encouraging and informative experience.

Please pray for them.

The Weekend - Thailand:

Don and Betsy Veldboom return to the USA at the end of this year. Currently, Amanda Intajuk is being trained to manage the shop, but please pray for suitable help and support for the shop team in order to see the ministry grow and thrive.

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Latin America Bolivia: Population: 11.3 million (16.2% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 2013 Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Mobile Director: Gamaliel Padilla Bestsellers: Battlefield of the Mind, Power of a Praying Woman, A Young Woman after God’s Own Heart 2018 was a year of difficulties, with a decrease in sales and outstanding debts that we could not pay. Despite this situation, and with gratitude for the cancelation of debts by some publishers, outstanding payments dropped by 75% during the last two months.

Glory to God! We also received gifts from CLC colleagues, which allowed us to reactivate the importation of new material.

During the year we participated in several book fairs around the country and held book tables at conferences and in churches, allowing us to set up a good display of Bibles, pocket-sized books and children’s books.

Having moved the bookshop in 2017 to reduce the rent and to be in a more populated area, we have not yet seen the results we hoped for. However, there are opportunities to make contact with non-Christians as there are lawyers’ offices in the same building as ours. A lot of people who come for legal or civic help come into the bookshop, and we can provide books, Bibles, leaflets and advice to help them.

Monday - Bolivia:

As we are included in the CLC project to produce affordable, evangelistic Bibles for three CLC Week 27 countries, we are looking forward to receiving 5,000 copies for distribution this year.

Please pray for blessing through this initiative.

Tuesday - Bolivia:

Please pray for the CLC team that the Lord will continue to bless and guide us, give us wisdom and open up more possibilities for the distribution of Bibles and books. Pray, too, for 16

Chile: Population: 17.9 million (18.4% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1958 Ministry: 7 Bookshops, Web sales, Mobile Director: Patricio Romo Bestsellers: On Being a Servant of God, Five Love Languages, 2-pack The Way to God, More than a Carpenter We thank God for His support in different areas of the ministry during 2018.

A very important aspect of the work this year was the initiation of the Public Relations department, a responsibility taken on by Sergio Mellafe. From the outset, we could see the hand of God guiding us in this venture and, thanks to Sergio’s efforts, we have become the exclusive provider for the bookshop of one of the largest denominations of the evangelical church in Chile.

We also thank God for providing young workers; today, there are new members of the team in each bookshop, and most of them are under 30 years of age.

Outstanding events during the year include the presentation, in April, of the Key-Word Study Bible, published by Patmos, and The Daily Living Bible (Tyndale) seminar. Both of these events were very successful.

In October, the CLC shop in Temuco celebrated its 40th anniversary with a wellattended thanksgiving service. We received gifts of books from publishers to help with the celebrations. All the national leadership, plus the CLC Regional Director, Humberto Urrutia, participated. (photo above) health, strength and provision for the Padilla family who are missionaries from Venezuela.

Wednesday - Chile:

CLC Chile is promoting and distributing the CLC Colombia publication, Trusting in God Although

Colombia:

Ecuador:

Population: 48.1 million (7.5% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1973 Ministry: 12 Bookshops, Web sales, Publishing, Wholesale, Mobile, Social Foundation Director: David Pabón Bestsellers: The Biblical Counseling Keys series (CLC), We Would See Jesus (CLC), Created to be His Help Meet (CLC)

Population: 16.5 million (8.5% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 2001 Ministry: 4 Bookshops, Wholesale, Mobile Director: Monica Rojas Bestsellers: The Bible, Our Daily Bread, Una Pausa en tu Vida (CLC)

Highlights of the year include: • Initiating a project to teach older people to read and write in cooperation with Literacy and Evangelism International.

• Seeing a growth of 30% in sales for CLC Colombia Publications.

• Hosting the first seminar in Colombia on the book, Genealogies of Genesis, from the History of Redemption Ministry in Korea.

• Through the CLC Social Foundation, over 70 donations were made to various ministries, supporting spiritual encouragement, social aid and education.

• Over the years, CLC has supported theological students, and another four students were helped in 2018.

We continue to trust God’s provision through daily sales although we have not reached our projected targets. The conversion rate of the dollar when buying from publishers in the USA has made our purchasing more expensive in our local currency.

A major challenge for the year was the printing of books from the History of Redemption series.

Regarding the bookshops, we are looking at the possibility of opening a second bookshop in the city of Medellín next year.

We thank God that the economy in the country is noticeably recovering; footfall in the bookshops has returned to its normal rhythm, and sales are improving.

There was a change of leadership this year, and the Lord’s faithfulness and help has been evident throughout this process. The support of the whole team has been fundamental to the growth and advance of the ministry.

Through participating in events and conferences, we have been able to reach many more people.

Events during the year include: a CLC stand at the Global Leadership Summit in Quito; seminars on the Biblia Diaria Vivir (Life Application Study Bible) for 340 pastors and leaders in Quito and Guayaquil; and Thompson Bible Seminars in four different cities (bottom right photo).

In the bookshops, we have implemented free events, which have been a great blessing. We choose topics of current interest, look for wellknown Christian authors, pastors or counsellors to lead the workshops, and recommend books on the chosen subject.

Friday - Colombia:

Life Hurts, by Jerry Bridges. We are also working hard to encourage bulk purchases of the Promise Bible with an emphasis on evangelism. Pray that these efforts will bless and encourage many people.

Please pray for the plans to open a second bookshop in the city of Medellin. Pray too for plans to replace a number of our computers that have become obsolete.

Thursday - Chile:

The Weekend - Colombia:

At the time of writing, the bookshop in Santiago was in need of a new manager. Perhaps a new manager is already in place by the time you read this, but please pray for the bookshop and the interim, or newly-appointed, manager.

During 2019, CLC Colombia has plans to facilitate around 30 more Thompson Bible Seminars. Praise the Lord that between 2010 and 2018, over 19,000 people went through this training programme in Colombia.

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Panama:

The Team

Mexico: Population: 126 million (8.3% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 2014 Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Wholesale, Web sales, Mobile Director: María del Carmen Castañeda Bestsellers: Not by Sight, Purpose Driven Life, Radical We give thanks to God for opening doors to work with other ministries, which have produced strong bonds of friendship and cooperation. This has led to participating in events with authors, publishers and a diverse section of the Christian community in Mexico.

For example, we partnered with Josh McDowell Ministries and ran a book table at a Leadership Summit. With Tyndale, we arranged seminars on the Life Application Study Bible, which were very well received by pastors, church leaders and others who attended.

In the bookshop, we have held events with authors. One event with author Liliana Llambés (The Gospel Coalition) and author and Christian radio host Nancy Leigh De Moss brought around 200 women together. It was a muchappreciated conference and an opportunity to discover a variety of helpful books.

Our aim is to continue to reach out to other parts of the country where we are not yet known, and we have just started a mobile ministry with a van we were able to purchase at the end of the year.

Monday - Ecuador: At the time of writing, we should soon have the necessary Week 28 permission to start building our new CLC property in Guayaquil. Pray in particular for good sales to help with the payments for the first phase of the construction.

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Population: 3.8 million (19.3% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1976 Ministry: 4 Bookshops, Web sales, Mobile Director: Milton Cheng Bestsellers: Our Daily Bread, The Purpose Driven Life, Bigger, Faster Leadership We are grateful to God for a 4.8% increase in sales compared to the previous year. At the same time, we have maintained an acceptable credit level with suppliers following some delays in 2017.

As usual, we have participated in important annual events, such as the Panama International Book Fair, and book tables at various events, both Christian and secular. We worked in collaboration with the Thompson Bible Seminars and organised events for booksellers and colporteurs at a national level. In the bookshops, we continue to hold regular ‘Reading Circles’ for both adults and children.

We bought two new vehicles for the mobile work but, sadly, we also lost some members of the team—ones who specifically helped with the mobile ministry. We had new personnel join us to take on some of this work.

Tuesday - Ecuador:

We plan visit to the Amazonian area where the Huaorani people live. This is where the missionary Jim Elliot started an evangelistic work. Please pray as we take the mobile ministry, and the Thompson Bible Seminars, to needy areas of the country.

Wednesday - Mexico:

Please pray as the team continues to reach out into new areas of the country to introduce CLC and look for more ways to cooperate with others. Please pray for opportunities to meet with pastors in places like Morelos, Toluca, Veracruz and Zacatecas.

Thursday - Mexico:

Maria del Carmen and the team thank God for opportunities to share about CLC both in Mexico and internationally. Much of this is done through contacts with people who have influence through social media.

Uruguay:

Venezuela:

Population: 3.4 million (6.2% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1948 Ministry: 2 Bookshops, Web sales, Mobile Director: Humberto Urrutia Bestsellers: Chiseled by the Master’s Hand (CLC), Prodigal Heart, The Love Dare

Population: 31.7 million (10.8% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1970 Ministry: 6 Bookshops, Web sales Director: Delvis Blanco Bestsellers: The Power of a Praying Woman, The Power of a Praying Wife

We want to thank God for every aspect of the work during 2018, especially because, despite the fluctuations in the economy, we have maintained the distribution in line with the previous year.

In June, the first Thompson Bible Seminars were held in Montevideo and in Paysandú, with 150 participants. Subsequent comments have been very encouraging and in favour of CLC’s work in carrying out this type of activity.

A young man, Albaro Silva, joined the team and is being trained to take on the work of Roberto Prochnau in the area of administration. We continue with the challenge to form a young team so that in about two years’ time, they can take on more of the responsibility for CLC Uruguay in the future. This is not easy, but we trust in the Lord to help and guide us.

We are working hard to develop the website, and our international website team is working with us to enable online payments.

Due to the economic and political crisis, it was a very difficult year for us, and we were obliged to close five bookshops. This was due partly to the reduction in our staff numbers from 22 to 12. Of those members who left CLC, six moved abroad. To give you an idea of the scale of the problem, at the time of writing, the average monthly salary is around $6 and the average cost of a CLC book is $5.

We also went through a crisis of interpersonal relationships within the team, but we praise the Lord for restoration in this regard. Sadly, however, this led to some harm to the ministry that was already in a critical situation in terms of liquidity and inventory.

However, there are no words to describe how good the Lord has been to us in the midst of the situation. Bookshops all around us are closing, yet CLC is still operating, and this is undoubtedly the Lord maintaining His work. We are very grateful to the CLC International Office, CLC teams and others who have contributed to help us.

Friday - Panama:

A long-standing subject for prayer is the project to buy a property where we can establish a warehouse and offices. Please join the team in seeking God’s will and provision in this matter.

The Weekend - Panama:

Please pray as CLC Panama looks again at getting their legal status changed from a commercial company to a charity since, in practice, CLC Panama does not have shareholders or distribute dividends like normal commercial companies, but it does pay income tax.

Monday - Uruguay:

We are working together with all the other CLC Latin America teams in the promotion of the book, Trusting in God although Week 29 Life Hurts by Jerry Bridges. We hope to impact thousands of lives with this excellent book.

Tuesday - Uruguay:

Following on from the first Thompson Bible Seminars in Uruguay in 2018, more are planned for this year, and it is hoped that around 250 people will participate. Pray for the ongoing work, and that many church leaders and pastors will benefit from this training.

Wednesday - Venezuela:

Please pray for God’s care and provision for the needs of the staff. Important provisions like medicines are in short supply and are very expensive. Praise God for financial support received through gifts to help supplement the monthly salaries.

Thursday - Venezuela:

We pray for the ability to function well in the six remaining bookshops. Please pray that we would return to financial stability and sustainability.

19

20 CLC Philippines

CLC Poland

CLC Russia

CLC Korea

CLC Colombia

CLC Kenya

CLC Philippines

CLC Italy

CLC Kenya

CLC Netherlands

CLC Colombia

CLC France

CLC Colombia

CLC Philippines

CLC Italy

CLC Korea

Here is the CLC delegation at the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) held in Kraków last March.

CLC Philippines

CLC Colombia

CLC Netherlands

CLC Netherlands

CLC France

CLC Kenya

CLC France

CLC Korea

Go to page 28 to find out more!

www.clc-blagovest.by • www.clc.bg • www.clccolombia.com • www.clcfrance.com www.clchungary.com • www.elsindia.org • www.clcitaly.com • www.cblafrica.com • www.clcnederland.com www.clcphilippines.com • www.clc.org.pl • www.clcportugal.com • www. clcromania.ro www.philadelphiabooks.ru • www.clcbook.com • www.clcuruguay.com • www.clcpublications.com

*Visit clcinternational.org for more information about these publishing CLC countries.

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Europe & Central Asia: Belarus: Population: 9.5 million (1.3% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1994 Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Publishing, Web sales, Wholesale Director: Lina Pinkevich Bestsellers: The Bible, Five Love Languages, On Becoming Babywise Praise the Lord for another year! Internet sales increased and, in some months, they were 33% of total retail sales. This was encouraging particularly as less visitors come to the bookshop.

We were pleased to hold a CLC stand at the Minsk International Book Fair although sales were not as good as we had hoped, given the effort we put into it! We encouraged the ‘Our Daily Bread’ Ministry to participate in the exhibition, and the GBV publisher from Germany had a stand as well. For the first time in the history of the Book Fair, three evangelical participants were represented.

We were quite active with book tables at different events, including ones where Josh MacDowell and Philip Yancey were participating. Another opportunity to reach out with our books was selling children’s Bibles via secular bookshops.

God helped us develop good relationships with local pastors, and about 20 of them joined the CLC team for a Prayer and Praise lunch as we celebrated 25 years of the ministry. Gary Chamberlin (Regional Director for Europe) also attended the event, and his visit was a blessing and an encouragement.

Friday - Belarus:

We need a new leader for the CLC Belarus Ministry.

The current Director, Lina Pinkevich, is due to retire soon, and this is the time to train someone to take over in the future. Please pray for the person of God’s choice for this important role.

The Weekend - Belarus:

There are plenty of plans for publishing this 22

Central Asia (CA1): Population: 5.8 million (0.7% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1996 Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Mobile Bestsellers: Love and Respect, The Five Love Languages 2018 was more difficult than previous years.

For some time now, free Christian literature has continued to flow into our country. This means that selling books and Bibles is much harder because people expect to have books free of charge or for a very low cost. Although I have written about this before, I want to remind you to continue to pray for a change in this situation.

For the last two years, I have been the only person working in the bookshop, and this has affected the quality of the entire ministry.

Such aspects as accounting, administrative tasks, direct sales, purchase of goods, and care of the shop have all been the responsibility of one person. Sadly, during this time, the mobile ministry has not been active.

Renting the apartment attached to the shop has been a significant help, but it did not save the situation. In order not to accumulate debts, in September 2018, the shop was leased, and I was freed to concentrate on activating the mobile work once more.

year, and a focus on children’s books is an important part of the work. Please pray for the publishing projects and for negotiations to print our books via Print on Demand in the Ukraine.

Monday-CentralAsia1(CA1):

At the time of writing, the plan is to open the bookshop again in April 2019 after some Week 30 months of concentrating solely on the mobile ministry. Due to the specific difficulties in selling Christian literature in the country, it is hard to plan for the future, but we hope to use social networks to promote the bookshop. We don’t have a website yet. Please pray for inspiration and encouragement in this situation.

Bulgaria:

Central Asia (CA2):

Population: 7 million (1.9% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1993 Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Web sales, Publishing Director: Lidia Dimitrova Bestsellers: Does your Tongue Need Healing?, The Measure of a Family

Population: 10 million (0.2% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1997 Ministry: 1 Bookshop Bestsellers: More than a Carpenter, The Purpose Driven Life, The Five Love Languages

2018 had its ups and downs, but we know that God is in control, and no matter what happens, we will trust Him! We started a project to publish the book Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman. Unfortunately, we couldn’t finish it as we had to focus on other areas, but we will continue with this and are considering projects with other publishers.

Fewer people are visiting the shop, but it is encouraging to see growth in online sales.

Even if shopping in a bookshop is no longer the usual way of purchasing items, there are still people who prefer to buy books this way, so we are doing our best to make it a good experience. Online sales are a priority too, and we are trying to engage people more. It is encouraging that many non-believers are buying from our website, and that the Bible is still the best-selling book.

It is good to receive testimonies about how our ministry is a blessing, and we believe God will show us step by step the way forward for growth and to reach people even beyond our borders.

Tuesday - Bulgaria:

Please pray for the project started last year to publish the book Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman.

We hope to complete it this year and are also considering working on projects with other publishers.

Wednesday - Bulgaria:

Last year we had book tables at two annual events that we regularly attend, but we will not be able to take part this year. We are looking forward to new opportunities for book tables this year and trust the Lord for His guidance.

Thursday - Central Asia 2 (CA2):

Although the required permission to sell Christian books is all in order, permission to use the property for commerce has been given

We had to relocate the bookshop in the first half of the year. It took several months not only to renovate and prepare the bookshop, but also to get the permissions needed to run a business from the building and to sell Christian books. After a five-month wait, which gave time to fit out the shop really well, we were finally able to open. While waiting for permission to operate, we made sure there were posters advertising our new location, and we contacted churches with news of our move.

We did not move very far, and although the new shop is smaller than the previous one, it is well located near a large market. We have seen an increase in customer visits and a significant increase in sales of Christian books—especially the Bible. It remains a challenge to cover our expenses, but the move has been encouraging.

At the end of the year, our request to print a book by a well-known author in the local language was approved. This publication was done in partnership with another organisation, but it is in our name. only verbally. This is enough to allow us to open, but please pray that we will soon have the paperwork to confirm this.

Friday - Central Asia 2 (CA2):

Please pray for possibilities to translate more books and that the book already translated will be a blessing. Pray, too, for the importation process for material, particularly new products for the bookshop.

The Weekend - Cyprus:

We continue to pray for a younger person to join us. We received an email from a Greek Cypriot, currently studying in the UK, expressing her desire to work with us after her return to Cyprus. We pray and trust that this will materialise.

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Cyprus:

France:

Population: 1.2 million (0.8% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1981 Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Web sales Director: Eva Photiadou Bestsellers: The Armor of God, Hear my Heart

Population: 67.4 million (1% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1951 Ministry: 13 Bookshops, Web sales, Publishing, Wholesale, Logistics for other publishers Director: Hervé Lessous Bestsellers: 100 Names of God (CLC), The Case for Christ, Pilgrim’s Progress (CLC)

Praise the Lord for a new opening in Paphos! We have a book display in an English-speaking church, and a couple from the church are running it on a sale or return basis. (photo on the right)

We are always encouraged when we hear of how our books or gift items are being used to help people, as in the following two cases: A friend bought a bag from our shop with the words: ‘When life gets too hard to stand, kneel.’ One day, as she was walking along the road with the bag, a lady stopped her and said: “Please let me take a photo of your bag; this is exactly what I need right now in my life.”

Another Christian bought a book of daily readings and read it to her husband while he was having treatment for cancer. She was so encouraged by the reading one day that when their doctor came into the room, she read it to him too. He then asked where he could find such a good book—so she came to the bookshop and bought one for him!

Monday - Cyprus:

We serve people from many different countries and often have conversations about the Week 31 Lord with them, or they leave the shop with a tract. Recently, this resulted in an opportunity to lead a Bible study with some students from Nepal. Praise the Lord!

We are encouraged by the sales for CLC France: they increased by 1.5% over budget in 2018, and this was despite the very unfavourable circumstances for businesses at the end of the year, particularly with major demonstrations in a lot of big cities in France.

We have started the process of purchasing a second Christian bookstore located in Paris, called 7ici. The official change of status for this bookshop will be in April 2019. The shop will keep its brand name ‘7ici’ but will be managed as a CLC bookstore.

We want to sell the building where we have our bookshop in Martinique and find another, more accessible location to rent. There are very few serious buyers, and we are making little progress on this issue.

We have started an extension project of our warehouse building. The plans were made, and we were able to obtain the necessary bank loan. Work has begun for an opening in September 2019, providing an extra 500 square metres. We will have more space for storage of pallets, and we want also to improve our processes and workflow in the logistics department. advance our web presence.

Wednesday - France:

Please pray for the finalisation of the extension project for the warehouse in Montelimar as it should be nearing completion now.

Tuesday - France:

Please pray for the development of a new website in collaboration with the CLC International office. This is a project we have wanted to launch for some time to further 24

Works at the warehouse in Montelimar

France: 7ici integration into CLC On April 1, 2019, CLC France took over an existing bookshop in Paris following several months of cooperation between CLC and the previous owners.

This new bookshop, 7ici, comes with a lot of history as CLC France’s Director, Hervé Lessous, explains: “The bookshop is on the Rue de Lille near the left bank of the river Seine in an area of antique shops and close to the Musée d’Orsay - one of the nicest museums in Paris (photo on the right). It is located on the ground floor of a Baptist church which was built around 1860. Its magnificent facade is eye-catching from the street. Historically, there was a Protestant bookshop at this location from around 1917 but it moved to the Boulevard St Germain and has since closed down.

In 1944, the Baptist Publishing Society was created and this organization opened a bookshop in the 1950s that was later moved to the current premises in Rue de Lille. The bookshop was named 7ici around 1980, the number 7 being very significant in the Bible and linked directly to God, and ici is French for ‘here’, or ‘right here’. Since then, the bookshop has expanded by creating a special space dedicated to children. We currently occupy about 210 sqm of shop space, offices and storage (photo on the left).

In addition to the traditional retail space, the bookshop is present on the internet, with two retail sites, and is active on social networks. The staff also serves customers with book tables at Christian gatherings and conferences.

The staff (from left to right in the photo) are sales assistants Brigitte and Margot, Christelle the shop manager, Damien who helps with internet and social media and Gerard who is in charge of book tables and online sales.

Although 7ici is now CLC’s second bookshop in Paris, it will retain its original name as it is so well known and established. Both shop teams will work more closely together in order to provide a good service to our customers in the city and surrounding area.”

Hervé Lessous 25

Germany:

Hungary:

Population: 80.5 million (2.1% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1948 Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Web sales Director: Valentin Schweigler Bestsellers: Just a Bit of Faith Makes no Sense, It Happened, Books by German authors

Population: 9.8 million (2.8% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1993 Ministry: 2 Bookshops, Web sales, Publishing Director: Annamária Karpati Bestsellers: Fervent (CLC), Ten Boys who Changed the World (CLC), Purpose Driven Life

After a long period of uncertainty, our landlord decided, for the time being, not to demolish the building where our bookshop is located. This means we can continue for a few more years in the place we have occupied for over 40 years!

It has been encouraging to have two bestselling books this year written by well-known German authors. One of the authors is the editor-in-chief of a major German newspaper, who became a Christian a few years ago. The other is a Christian journalist and preacher, who is often seen on TV. He has written a book based on his life experiences, the notes he has made and his encounters with people. We trust that these books will have a significant impact in people’s lives.

We are aware that we have a responsibility for the material we offer and that our books, in many cases, are used as teaching material.

We stock a variety of books, but we want to recommend good, solid titles.

Alongside this, we have customers who come for gift items and an enjoyable shopping experience, so we work to maintain an attractive shop and have installed a coffee machine this year.

A major change this year was the addition of Áron Vörös (photo on the left) to our team in the Budapest bookshop.

He became a great help, and a good replacement for Zsolt Karpati as it allowed Zsolt to concentrate more on his studies and translation work.

We have seen a 46% increase in our website sales—a great encouragement! On the other hand, sales in the Miskolc shop declined due to the restricted opening times since we only had one part-time worker there.

A church organising a regular conference for ladies ordered 600 copies of our book, Fervent,

by Priscilla Shirer. The main speaker at the previous conference had held up a copy, saying everyone should read it!

We were happy to publish Thanksgiving Journals this year. It was an idea we got from a blind lady who had collected Bible verses and wrote thoughts on how the reader can be thankful in any circumstance. We have included this in the journal, and there is plenty of space for writing your own thoughts too. This was a great success as it was produced in time for Christmas.

Thursday - Germany:

translators for the publishing work. Please pray.

Friday - Hungary:

Praise the Lord for a new member of the team specifically for the Miskolc bookshop. This is an answer to prayer, and means we can resume full opening times again there. Pray for Gabriella as she settles in to the work.

Our bookkeeper for the past 25 years retired recently. Please pray as we continue to do this work without taking on someone specifically for the job. We have the skills within the team, but it means extra work!

Praise the Lord for volunteers! Last October Lea started helping us with marketing, especially on social media, and we have seen some good results already. We are looking for others to help—bloggers and influencers who can help us spread the word about our books and 26

The Weekend - Hungary:

Monday - Italy:

Please pray for Samuele Di Ruocco who suffered a serious stroke earlier this year. He is Week 32 making steady progress and maintains a joyful attitude although he knows

Netherlands:

Italy: Population: 62.2 million (1.1% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1956 Ministry: 8 Bookshops, Web sales, Publishing, Wholesale Director: Samuele Di Ruocco Bestsellers: More than a Carpenter (CLC), Peace With God (CLC), Fervent (CLC) We are making an effort to ‘re-launch’ retail by encouraging people to come to the bookshops for something they will not find online: experience, knowledge, personal contact with staff and customers, and events.

We have been holding small events in the bookshops that we call Aperilibro (photo above), which is a combination of the words ‘appetiser’ and ‘book’ (libro). For these events we invite an author, teacher or musician to share something of their work, experience or creativity with us. These events are becoming popular, and sometimes there is not enough room for everyone! Occasionally non-believers attend and stay late, touched by the message, asking questions and asking for prayer.

CLC Italy publications is growing, with eight new titles published and three CLC books becoming best sellers in 2018.

In May, we participated in one of the biggest book fairs in Italy. It was a huge effort in terms of time, manpower and logistics, but we had some good encounters and opportunities to show God’s love and respond to questions.

We also gave out books to those questioning faith or searching for God. he has a long road to recovery in front of him.

Please pray too for the interim Director, Ivano Cramerotti, with his additional responsibilities.

Tuesday - Italy:

Please pray for the bookshop managers.

Last year two managers left CLC, and new managers are currently being trained. Another

Population: 17.2 million (4.3% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1962 Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Web sales, Publishing Director: Bertus Keuter Bestsellers: Masterpiece, Jesus Calling, The Masterwork of God During the year, we emptied our office area and rebuilt it as an apartment in order to rent it out and make some extra income to cover our costs. To keep expenses to a minimum, much of the work was carried out by Bertus, the CLC Director, and Jacob, the Chairman of the Board.

Since October, we have been using the CLC International website for our ecommerce.

We put a lot of effort into launching the project. Behind the web shop we have built a framework to collect all the information we can to fill our product database and update the website.

In November, Bertus was invited to a conference in South Korea, organised by the Redemptive History Center. This could become a major project for us as we work on translating and publishing books from this organisation.

Total sales went down compared to the previous year, but although sales from the shop and website fell, sales from publishing rose significantly. Throughout the year, we continued to take book tables to churches and events, which have enabled us to contact many people. manager is on maternity leave, and a helper is managing the shop during this time.

Wednesday - Netherlands:

Please pray for Bertus Keuter, the Director for CLC Netherlands. He had surgery for lung cancer earlier this year. Praise the Lord he is recovering well, and the surgery was successful.

Thursday - Netherlands:

Pray for the publishing work as the team have four book titles planned for translation and publishing this year. Please pray, too, for the new website that it would quickly become established and effective.

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Conferences in Kraków A series of CLC meetings were held in Kraków, Poland, in March this year.

The first conference was an annual event organized together with the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) to bring publishers, mostly from Eastern Europe, together with representatives of US publishers to purchase translation rights. This year we were able to have other CLC countries participate including Korea, Colombia, Philippines and Myanmar. CLC now publishes books in 25 languages in 22 countries. We praise God that at the moment CLC has about 3,000 titles in print and we are aiming for 4,000 titles within the next five years.

Photo 1: Talking about securing rights for books in Polish with the Elwells from Tyndale Publishing

The second conference was for publishing training. There are many steps to getting a book published, involving a lot of meticulous checking of a translation, layout and book-cover design.

CLC is pursuing a strategy to work with our 22 countries that publish to improve standards so the books produced are of a high quality.

The third conference was for the CLC European leaders, with participants from 14 countries. During this time we had training sessions and in-depth evaluations of CLC activities in various countries, seeing not only the challenges our ministry faces but also pinpointing the tremendous opportunities.

During this conference Gary Chamberlin was nominated to continue in his role as the CLC European Director for four more years (2020 - 2024).

Photo 2: Gary Chamberlin with CLC Europe Directors and shaking hands with Gerardo Scalante after being selected again as the CLC European Director

The fourth and final ‘conference’ was the CLC Regional Directors’ Meetings.

This took place over five intense days for the International Director Gerardo Scalante (who is also the interim Director for North America and the Caribbean) and the Directors for Africa, Asia, the Americas and Europe. The Chair of the CLC International Charity also participated. Please keep these people in your prayers in their responsibilities for overseeing the CLC ministry in 47 Front row (left to right): Gerardo Scalante, CLC International Director, countries.

Gary Chamberlin 28

Romualdo Macinas (Asia Director), Liz Patten (Africa Director) Back row: Gary Chamberlin (Europe Director), Humberto Urrutia (Latin America Director), John Raby (Chair of CLC International Charity)

Poland:

Portugal:

Population: 38.4 million (0.3% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1991 Ministry: 1 Bookshop Director: Gary Chamberlin Manager: Ewa Rymer Bestsellers: Jesus Our Destiny and Jesus Our Chance (CLC), Not a Fan

Population: 10.4 million (3% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1985 Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Web sales, Mobile, Publishing, Wholesale Director: Carlos Cunha Bestsellers: Nameless Women in the O.T., El-Shaddi, Women with History (all CLC)

The CLC ministry in Poland is increasingly focusing on publishing. While we do still have one effective bookshop in Katowice, our real growth is in publishing. We praise God that we now have 40 titles in print.

Our bestselling author is a German named Wilhelm Busch. Not only were we delighted to reprint his book Jesus Our Destiny, but we enthusiastically published another title by Busch in 2018 called Jesus Our Chance, (photo on the right) which became a bestseller.

We are grateful to God that our ministry continues to be fairly stable, thanks in large part to our growing publishing. We were disappointed that our web sales declined.

We desperately need to update our website and use the CLC International website, but we have significant problems finding someone local to do all of this work for us.

CLC Portugal launched the book, Nameless Women in the Old Testament, by a Portuguese author, and it became our bestseller. In addition to shop and website sales, we have taken at least 30 book tables to evangelical and secular events around the coutry.

We made a more effective partnership with the Portuguese Bible Society, enabling us to have, as consignment stock, all their different models of Bibles. Also, through the campaign, Bibles for Africa, we have sent more than 400 Bibles to Angola, Mozambique and São Tomé e Principe during the year. We would like to collect enough money for 500 next year!

Praise the Lord we have grown from just one full-time member of staff to a full-time and a part-time worker so we can still maintain a rhythm of growth and sustainability.

Although the ministry is growing, we still do not have enough profit to sustain two full-time workers, though that would really benefit CLC Portugal.

Managing the bookshop, running book tables, operating an active publishing department, and maintaining the website are great but also create a challenge to keep a balanced lifestyle.

Friday - Poland:

Our main focus is to publish an additional seven new titles and to finally see our website renewed. Please pray for good progress in these areas.

The Weekend - Poland:

Please pray for good relations among our staff and unity as we focus on our goals for the future ministry to reach the Polish people with the Gospel of Jesus through literature.

Monday - Portugal:

Please pray for CLC Portugal’s Publishing ministry. This year they hope to publish two more Week 33 titles by Portuguese authors and also, together with the Portuguese Bible Society, publish two children’s books.

On the right, Carlos and Vinycius

Tuesday - Portugal:

Planning and preparation is underway for the Global Leadership Summit meetings in Lisbon and Porto later this year. Please pray for CLC’s involvement in these events and for the work of the Global Leadership Network.

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Romania: Population: 21.6 million (5.4% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1991 Ministry: 2 Bookshops, Web sales, Publishing Director: Ronela Micula Bestsellers: Like Christ (CLC), The Way of Abundance, Make Your Brain We praise the Lord that we finally launched our new website. We are grateful to Cristi Cotovan for his hard work on this and to the International Office for including us in their website project.

Another important project was printing the Bilingual Bible for Children in EnglishRomanian and German-Romanian. The opportunity to co-produce this at a price that made the Bible affordable was a welcome surprise. Finding the finances for the project was a challenge, and we praise God for a loan that made it possible.

Meeting legal requirements has proved hard this year—paying increased salaries and taxes, and the process of authorisation for our properties in Brasov and Timisoara. It has also been a difficult year in terms of staffing as some have left and another member of staff is due for maternity leave in 2019. This meant it was almost impossible to do some of the vital activities, and it is an ongoing concern. I [the Director] am approaching retirement, but I trust God that I will be able to continue until we have people in place to carry on the work.

Wednesday - Romania:

After the recent loss of staff and the changing situation, we need to reorganise the team and recruit more staff. However, with the high level of emigration from the country and the increased salaries, it is difficult. Please pray for God’s provision.

Thursday - Romania:

Please pray for progress in our publishing— books that were not completed last year, new titles planned for this year and titles almost out of stock that should be reprinted. We also want to work to improve the activity on the new website.

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Russia: Population: 142.1million (1.2% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 2006 Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Publishing, Wholesale Director: Nikita Sapunov Bestsellers: Key Verse Study Bible, This is What the Bible Says (a tract), Starter Bible We thank the Lord for protection during a tax inspection in 2018. Vera, our bookkeeper, and I were called to answer a tax inspection committee. We were being investigated for paying low wages and, therefore, we were suspected of using illegal methods of tax deduction. Praise the Lord after the meeting the investigation was stopped!

A highlight of the year was that our publishing department broke even in 2018 for the first time!

In March 2018, in collaboration with CLC Korea, we signed an agreement with the Redemption History Center for publishing the 10-volume History of Redemption series by Dr. Abraham Park (photo above). A big day for CLC Russia!

And, lastly, we were able to add more automation to the work process, which made deliveries of orders more convenient, both for clients and ourselves. This includes the facility for customers to collect their orders at nonCLC locations.

Praise the Lord for another good year!

Friday - Russia:

We are now making arrangements for the first seminar on the Redemption History to be held in Moscow which, Lord willing, should take place in July.

Spain

Switzerland:

Population: 49.3 million (1% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1966 Ministry: 3 Bookshops, Web sales, Wholesale Regional Director: Gary Chamberlin Manager: Darwin Vergel Bestsellers: The Five Love languages, The Purpose Driven Life, Matthew Henry Bible Commentary

Population: 8.3 million (4.4% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 2008 Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Web sales Regional Director: Gary Chamberlin Manager: Carlo Ciafani Bestsellers: Peace With God—Short Version (CLC), More than a Carpenter (CLC), Secrets of the Secret Place

During the year, we participated in a number of national conferences—for example, Women Aglow, FIEIDE (Federation of Independent Evangelical Churches in Spain) and the FourSquare Gospel churches—as well as smaller, more local conferences. We were able to serve about 3,000 people at our stands at these events.

We took part in the organisation, promotion and logistics for two Thompson Bibles Seminars, one in Madrid and one in Barcelona, with 110 participants in all.

In November, we received 100 copies of the book, Pastores de Carne y Hueso (Pastors of Flesh and Bone), published by CLC Colombia, to give as a gift to the pastors who come to our bookshops in Madrid, Seville and Valencia. This was a way of thanking them and strengthening relationships with local churches.

We continue with the challenge to improve our service to the public and improve the level of sales through the different channels of communication available to us—bookshops, wholesale and the website.

The year was notable for some special events we were involved in. During May, we attended the Culto Cantonale, a special meeting with participants from local churches. Attendance was good and included the Mayor of Lugano, but sales were not so encouraging, despite the fact that we were well located.

In June, together with two other organisations, we arranged a conference on the Italian side of the border with a pastor from Israel.

Despite being the first time such a conference had been held, the event went well. Carlo led one of the meetings and had the opportunity to speak about the CLC ministry.

In November, we held an event together with the ministry Compassion in our bookshop. It was a busy, enjoyable and worthwhile day.

On a monthly basis, we organised a Hebrew course that was attended by 10–12 people, and this was a blessing for them.

Despite the extra efforts mentioned above, sales fell with respect to 2017. Although it was only a fall of 1%, it has been one of our worst years, and we hope to see improvements as soon as possible.

The Senior Pastor of Pyeongkang Cheil Church, Rev. Lee, will be leading it. Please pray that this will be a blessing for all who attend.

The Weekend - Spain:

At the end of 2018, the CLC team put together a selection of books and Bibles ready to send as a donation to Equatorial Guinea, a Spanishspeaking country in West Africa. At the time of writing, the books are waiting for a suitable and affordable means of transport from Spain.

Please pray that these books will soon be sent on their way.

Carlo and Gary at the bookshop in Agno.

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United Kingdom: Population: 65.1 million (8.8% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1941 Ministry: 13 Bookshops, Web Sales, Wholesale, Mobile Director: Neil Wardrope Bestsellers: Five Love Languages, The Masterpiece, The NLT Outreach Bible We are in the process of refocusing our bookshop strategy, either to smaller, more central locations or by partnering with churches. In April, the Sheffield shop moved to a much more accessible location next to the Cathedral Square.

We thought that the Blackpool shop would have to close until an option emerged to use part of an Anglican Church in the centre of the town.

We are actively engaging with churches in a number of ways. In agreement with the Vineyard churches, we are supplying book tables at all their events as well as providing a website and distributing their music. We have begun a process of church segmentation so that we can provide relevant materials for each grouping by means of specific marketing.

Sadly, we have had to close the Tonbridge, Newcastle and Leicester bookshops. We are impacted by the changes affecting all of retail in the UK. We regret the loss of personal contact but, clearly, people are buying books in different ways.

It has been a joy to support the Mozambique Bible Project and, more recently, the Spanish Bible Project.

Monday - Spain:

Praise the Lord for the 20,000 affordable Bibles that will be Week 34 available in Spain this year thanks to the CLC International project to raise funds to have them printed. Spain is one of three specific countries receiving these Bibles where they will be widely used.

Tuesday - Switzerland:

Please pray for the monthly Hebrew course that we started in 2018. The plan is to continue this throughout 2019. May it continue to bless and benefit the small group that meet.

Wednesday - Switzerland:

Since the end of 2018, we have been talking with pastors in order to raise awareness in the local churches of our need for support to remain financially viable. We want people to recognise that we need to work together in order to continue. We also want to connect with other ministries to look for ways to collaborate in order to help keep our bookshop open.

Thursday - United Kingdom:

Areas of growth that we would appreciate prayer for include increasing the range of publishers represented in the warehouse and the number of events we serve with book tables. It is important that we continue supporting CLC International as well, particularly with Bible projects.

Friday - United Kingdom:

Collaboration and partnerships are important for the future of CLC in the UK. Please pray for more opportunities to develop partnerships with like-minded ministries and churches, and for ‘author events’ in collaboration with churches.

CLC UK book table at a Vineyard Leadership conference

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Relief in Mozambique after the Cyclone Idai On March 15 central Mozambique was hit by one of the worst tropical cyclones on record to affect Africa, causing terrible devastation in the city of Beira and its surroundings. Many people died, and many more were displaced as rapidly rising rivers flooded whole villages.

We are so grateful that our CLC worker Sacramento and all others we work with in the area have survived the storm! Most houses in Beira were badly damaged, and many people had to find refuge in accommodation camps or tents, but amazingly, the IBS seminary, the home of our CLC bookshop in Beira, has only sustained minor damage.

You can see Sacramento in the main photo on the front cover of this magazine

After having been cut off from the rest of the country for almost a week due to destroyed infrastructure, help started to pour in, and the rebuilding of Beira is now under way. We are overwhelmed by the generosity of friends of CLC from all over the world who have contributed to the CLC relief fund to help Sacramento and those in his community to rebuild their lives!

With the funds received we have already been able to buy a new roof for Sacramento’s house and that of his mother, to help seminary students fix their damaged houses, and to offer some help with food as well.

Together with the mission organisations AIM and SIM, we also bought a large quantity of fastgrowing seeds for the Lamego community to replace the harvest that they have lost, in order to prevent famine later in the year.

Apart from practical help, CLC Mozambique is also trying to address the spiritual need by providing free economy Bibles to those in the affected area. It ‘just so happened’ that we had 10,000 of these Bibles printed and delivered to Maputo a little over a year ago!!

Please pray with us that the physical and spiritual seeds we sow will bear much fruit.

Petra Nemansky

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Africa Benin: Population: 13.3 million (8.3% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1998 Ministry: 1 Bookshop Director: Emmanuel Ladeyo Bestsellers: Purpose Driven Life, Transformed Temperaments, Power of a Praying Wife CLC Benin is situated in the economic capital where there are other Christian bookshops and many secular bookshops where you can find Christian titles. There are also some Catholic bookshops. The advantage for CLC Benin is that we often have titles at a competitive price compared with other bookshops, which makes us a reference point, and we stock a good variety of titles.

We receive a lot of testimonies, congratulations and encouragements from the customers thanks to our lower cost books.

Challenges to the work include overcoming the economic downturn and improving our sales. However, on a more encouraging note, we celebrated 20 years of CLC in Benin this year.

We decorated the shop inside and out (photo on the right) to make the place more welcoming and to let people know how long we have been here. Some gifts were given out to customers as well. We are grateful for a donation from another CLC country that made this possible.

At the end of the year a young student, Alex, started helping us in the bookshop.

The Weekend - Benin

We have enlarged the bookshop recently by filling an unused adjacent room with stock to make the most of our space. Please pray that this area will be welcoming and attractive for customers, and that our staff can be organised 34

Burkina Faso: Population: 19.7 million (8.9% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1991 Ministry: 1 Bookshop Director: Sami Luc Noufe Bestsellers: Purpose Driven Life, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect, Movers of Men and Mountains The strengths of the bookshop can be described as a warm welcome for customers - a clean and organised shop, a spirit of fellowship with the customers and good team relationships.

We are grateful to the Lord for His favour towards CLC Burkina. While we were totally discouraged because of poor sales, the Lord sent a pastor, who had bought many books from us between 1991 and 2016, with a message: “I know that you are discouraged but take heart.” This pastor drives over to pray with us twice a month, and there are others, as well as this pastor, who encourage us to continue despite the financial situation that is both serious and complex.

In April we had a visit from Liz Patten, the Regional Director, together with Bernhard Koëke from CLC France and Emmanuel Ladeyo from Benin.

Bernhard, Gerard and Luc

We are so thankful for the partnerships with other CLC teams who pray for us and help us practically. This encourages us to give our best and to keep going. to ensure there is someone to attend customers in each section of the ‘extended’ bookshop.

Monday - Burkina Faso:

We plan to get out to more churches to speak about CLC and make contact with the Week 35 younger generation. We are also looking for more opportunities to hold book tables. Please pray for growth in the

Kenya:

The Team

Côte d’Ivoire: Population: 26.3 million (10.5% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1961 Ministry: 2 Bookshops Director: Martine Foto Bestsellers: The Power of a Praying Wife, The Use of Time, Unmerited Favor During the year we received a visit from Liz Patten, the CLC Africa Regional Director, Emmanuel Ladeyo, the CLC French West Africa Director and Bernhard Koëke, CLC France. We even received a visit from Stefan Waldmann who is the export sales manager for the Maison de la Bible (House of the Bible) publishers in Europe.

In 2018, we were able to settle all our old debts with the government social security offices, which means that our workers will be able to claim their future pensions. A disappointment was that we lost two staff members, one by termination of contract and the other by resignation. However, Noel and Linda have replaced them.

Our visitors feel good when they enter the bookshops. They testify to the presence of God, and they say that we have good diversity in our stock. Sometimes they find titles they have spent a long time searching for.

Population: 48.4 million (48.9% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 2007 Ministry: 2 Bookshops, POD Publishing, Wholesale Director: Patrick Omukhango Bestsellers: The Africa Study Bible, The Purpose Driven Life, Let Me be a Woman God’s word for us in 2018 was ‘a time of rest and abundance’ and, despite many challenges, we did experience this. We engaged in missions work, our desire since 2009. It was a blessing to see the impact that books, as a tool for ministry, can have. We also got opportunities to travel and connect with other people for the benefit of our ministry.

One major achievement was to connect with some publishers that enabled our publishing efforts to grow from 23 to 46 titles in 2018, with plans for 11 more titles in 2019.

We had an evaluation meeting in December with members of the CLC International Office.

We had time to strategise for the future and get clear direction from God on what we should focus on. The result was a plan that would enable us to do more with less, and we recognised the need to move offices to separate operations from warehousing. This will be one of the best milestones for 2019, though it is one of the major pressure points for our ministry at the moment.

Wednesday - Kenya:

ministry and an increase in sales.

We want to strengthen and expand our publishing work, and we applied for a grant to help with the finances to do this. Praise God the grant has been awarded, which is an encouragement and blessing for the ministry.

Tuesday - Côte d’Ivoire:

Thursday - Kenya:

Please pray for our plans to become more effective in the ministry. We want to make our Facebook page more dynamic and would like to create a website with a view to selling online at some point. We are looking for opportunities to partner with churches in order to supply them with consignment stock.

At the time of writing, some major changes to the locations where we operate are anticipated this year. Relocation is key to restructuring the way we work, looking for increased retail sales and more affordable rented premises. Please pray with us for God’s guidance for the way ahead.

35

Liberia:

Sierra Leone:

Population: 4.8 million (14.6% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1947-95, 2012- Present Ministry: 1 Bookshop, Mobile Director: James Cooper Bestsellers: Africa Study Bible, Purpose Driven Life, Pastor’s Pal (CLC)

Population: 6.3 million (3.9% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1966 Ministry: 3 Bookshops, POD Publishing, Mobile Director: Donald John Bestsellers: God’s Generals, Whatever Happened to Worship?, Engagement Bibles

Early in the year we had a book table at the International Conference of the Bethel World Outreach Ministries, and sales were encouraging. We also hosted a Church Leaders’ Conference in collaboration with the Calvary Baptist Convention in Grand Bassa County.

Our biggest event was the launch of the Africa Study Bible. The event went well even though attendance was lower than expected. We did have representatives from the Liberia Bible Society and the Liberia Council of Churches, who showed interest in supporting CLC in the future. The representative from the African Bible College University bought a Bible and told us that the information in the invitation package we sent them had motivated the University authorities to supply all of their students with a copy of the Africa Study Bible.

We continue to have low sales due to the poor economic situation in the country and, as a result, we are struggling to meet our monthly sales targets. This is making it difficult to pay salaries and bills - especially our rent to the Providence Baptist Church.

Friday - Liberia:

Please pray for wisdom, guidance and encouragement for the team as they face significant financial difficulties. Please pray that they will find new ways of reaching out with Christian literature in the bookshop and through the mobile ministry.

The Weekend - Liberia:

Praise God for CLC’s continued involvement with church leaders’ training. A trip to Ganta Nimba County to host a training event in partnership with the Evangelical Baptist Convention took place in May this year.

36

We celebrated our 50th anniversary this year using CLC International’s anniversary theme, ‘Forever Grateful’. Established in 1966, business actually started in 1968, so we organised several celebration events between 2017 and 2018, ending with a Thanksgiving Service. We are forever grateful to God for all He is doing in and through the CLC bookshops in Sierra Leone.

The Print-On-Demand system has been a blessing to local authors. We printed at least 5,000 books, and people who knew nothing about CLC before are showing an interest in the potential to print books.

During the year, we had a change of staff when our administration and finance officer, Mr. Afred Sankoh, left and was replaced by Mr. Desmond Pearce.

The Africa Study Bible was launched in June.

Over 350 dignitaries attended this event.

Initially, Oasis International decided that this unique publication should be launched in countries where at least 80% of the prospective readership is literate in the English Language. Sierra Leone has a literacy rate of approximately 30% but, praise God, it was agreed that the Africa Study Bible would be launched in Sierra Leone.

Monday - Sierra Leone:

We give thanks to the Lord for the many souls who have been born Week 36 into the Kingdom of God, the people whose faith has been strengthened, the broken hearts that have been mended, the light found by those in darkness and the hope found by those in despair—all through the literature sold through our bookshops in Sierra Leone.

Tuesday - Sierra Leone:

Pray for the development of the Print on Demand operation in Freetown. More than

Mozambique: Population: 27.2 million (11.1% Evangelical) Date CLC work began: 1966 Ministry: 2 Bookshops Director: Liz Patten Bestsellers: The Bible for Everyone, NIV Bible, The Minister’s Service Book 2018 was an exciting year as we began with almost 10,000 copies of the Bible for Everyone—the fruit of our ‘Bible Project’ in 2017. After launching the Bible in Maputo, we arranged similar events in Beira and Nampula (photo below). We are considering introducing the Bible For Everyone in two more provinces.

In July, we had a one-day staff conference with good fellowship together and an extended time of prayer for CLC worldwide.

In September, Johane left us to become a full-time pastor. It was hard to see him go, but we are thankful to have Francisco, his replacement, join us in October.

Throughout the year, we implemented an ongoing strategy to change the nation by reaching out to Bible Schools with our catalogue and, where possible, a personal visit. This had a measure of success although, sadly, many Bible Schools lack funds to invest in books.

95% of our stock comes from Brazil and our main challenge continues to be the high costs of freight and customs, which mean that we sometimes need to reduce our margins in order to be able to sell the books.

5,000 books were printed in the last year, but there is scope for growth and the development of new, local authors.

Wednesday - Mozambique:

Praise the Lord for a successful grant application

In the aftermath of the Cyclone Idai we realised that, for the first time, we had a plentiful supply of Bibles in Mozambique. This means we have been able to respond to the need of believers for Bibles lost in the storm.

The Bibles now available in Beira – and across the country - are due to the generous giving of many supporters. CLC would like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all who contributed to making this possible. This includes the Portuguese Bible Society who facilitated the printing of the Bible. that will enable us to open a small outlet in Nampula, in the north of Mozambique.

Please pray for God’s guidance as we now move forward with this project.

Thursday - Mozambique:

Please pray for the ongoing staff needs in the Maputo bookshop. There have been changes as some have moved into pastoral work. We have been blessed with the workers we have had.

Friday - CLC Africa:

We are expecting to host the CLC Africa Regional Conference in Maputo in October 2019 with the participation of Gerardo Scalante, the CLC International Director. Please pray for the preparations and planning for this.

The Weekend - CLC Africa:

The supply chain and the affordability of books continue to be an issue right across the continent. Please pray for solutions to these issues. Both Print on Demand and local authors offer hope for the future.

37

CLC Spanish Bible Project Your purchases at CLC bookshops and online store help us to distribute Bibles, Christian books and resources in 48 countries worldwide. THANK YOU! However, access to these resources is not as easy in some places as it is in most Western countries. Just try for a moment to imagine your life, and your Christian journey, without a Bible!

There is a huge need for Bibles in a number of Spanish-speaking countries.

At the moment, CLC International is raising funds for the CLC Spanish Bible Project. In particular, there’s a huge need for affordable Bibles in Venezuela, Bolivia and Spain! These three countries have been severely affected by the economic crisis and/or political and social turmoil.

CLC International wants to encourage spreading God’s Word in these countries through the CLC Spanish Bible Project that will make the Bible very accessible for everyone. This important project will also help to sustain the CLC ministry in these countries. The goal is to print a total of 45,000 economical Bibles in Spanish to promote and facilitate evangelism (20,000 for Venezuela, 5,000 for Bolivia and 20,000 for Spain).

The estimated budget for this important and ambitious project, including printing and shipping costs, is €67,000 ($77,000 USD or £59,000 GBP).

How can you help? We invite you to pray for this need and then consider helping us by donating to make this project become a reality. Each Bible costs only €1.50 ($1.70 USD or £1.30 GBP).

Thank you for helping CLC International spread the Word of God in Venezuela, Bolivia and Spain!

To learn how to make a donation to this Bible project, please see our donation form (page 39).

Project Update Praise God that over half the funds for this project have been raised and we will shortly be printing the Bibles.

They will be ready for shipment in June or July.

38

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CLC International

Mission Site: clcinternational.org CLC International Office (UK):

291 Abbeydale Road, Sheffield, S7 1FJ

UK Mission Site: UK Online Shop: Personnel Enquiries:

clc.org.uk clcbookshops.com

personnel@clcbookshops.com

UK Headquarters & Finance Office:

Unit 5, Glendale Avenue, Sandycroft Industrial Estate, Sandycroft, Deeside CH5 2QP Email: gerald.sidery@clc.org.uk

For Overseas Opportunities:

office@clcinternational.org

To Subscribe: clcworld@clcbookshops.com

CLC International Office & USA Headquarters:

701 Pennsylvania Avenue, P.O. Box 1449 Fort Washington, PA 19034

USA Mission Site: USA Online Shop:

clcusa.org multilanguage.com info@clcusa.org clcusa.org/give

Inquiries: Donations: For Overseas Opportunities: To Subscribe:

missions@clcusa.org clcworld@clcusa.org

CLC Ministries International is registered as a not-forprofit 501(c)3 organization in the United States and as such can accept charitable donations and provide tax deductible receipts CLC International (UK) is registered as a charity in England & Wales (1015793) and in Scotland (SC037939)