The Merger Story

The Kingsway Trust and CLC both have a long history in the Christian book world.  Kingsway Trust was incorporated on 1st February 1973 by John Hywel Davies, Hugh Dennis Fuller and Kenneth Nathaniel Taylor, founder of Tyndale House Publishers and the man responsible for the Living Bible. The name of the organisation came from the street of the same name in central London. The aspiring publishers had been searching for a suitable name and exiting Holborn Tube Station they found themselves in Kingsway, and they immediately felt that would be an appropriate name for the organisation. The Trust through many of its companies went on to publish hundreds of book titles and produced many of the best-known Christian albums in the UK. In 1994 David C Cook, a publisher from the USA bought shares in the Kingsway companies that led to Kingsway Communications Ltd being formed and later in 2009 acquiring full ownership. 

The Kingsway Trust, has continued to build on its educational events with full distribution concentrating initially on the distribution of Christian films. As well as distributing to Christian bookshops, they developed an online presence. From their base in Eastbourne the organisation quickly grew before merging with CLC in 2019.

CLC International (UK) has been best known for its bookshop presence on the UK High Street. It was founded during the Second World War, initially as an outreach to the soldiers garrisoned in Colchester, Essex. CLC was closely linked with the church planting mission WEC in the early years and the workers lived sacrificial lives, not receiving a salary, but rather trusting God for all their needs. Bookshops were established around the UK – and beyond. Due to its links with WEC, a global vision was part of its vision from the very early days. Bookshops, distribution and publishing was quickly established in a number of countries. The work has grown particularly in Latin America and in the 1990s there was expansion into Eastern Europe after the fall of the Berlin Wall, finally reaching Moscow in 2006. Today CLC operates in 46 countries.

In the UK it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain the bookshops on the High Street because of changing retail habits, and CLC began a process of change towards distribution and developing a greater online presence.  In 2015, the major decision was taken to relocate the warehouse from Alresford in Hampshire to a much bigger facility in Chester.

Early in 2019, a conversation between Kingsway Trust and CLC began about the possibility of merging the two organisations. Very quickly it was established that, despite many logistical issues, there was a unity of vision – a heartfelt commitment to seeing the lives of people changed through the distribution of Christian resources. In little over six months the decision was made and executed to form Kingsway CLC Trust.  The new entity officially began on Aug 1, 2019.

The Miracle Years

No-one knew (fortunately!) that the first two years of the existence of the new-born Kingsway CLC Trust would take place during a global pandemic.  From the founding of the new mission in August 2019 to the start of lockdown in March 2020, a huge amount of work was carried out to combine the inventories; to harmonise the technologies; to unite the two workforces; and to create a new vision, charting the course that we believed the Lord wanted us to follow. None of the above contemplated Covid-19!

By God’s grace, the work of unification meant that, by March 2020, KCLCT was able to operate in conditions that we never anticipated.  Our ability to function online was enhanced with a much wider range of stock, supplying not just our own websites but those of others. The increase in online ordering did not match the loss of bookshop orders, but we were able to pivot to new realities.

At no time did we have a sense of panic, but rather we trusted in God. That sense of calm was confirmed when, in April 2020, we received not one, but two legacies.  This is a rare occurrence for us, so to have two in the same month was a huge encouragement. By the very nature of legacies, you never know when they will arrive, so the timing was a sign of God’s grace towards us. 

Imagine our surprise and amazement when, in May 2020, we were informed that we had been left a further legacy of a property.  This was beyond anything we could imagine.  God was (and is) looking after us.

There is no doubt that hard decisions had to be made during Covid-19. A number of staff were placed on furlough, while those working carried a heavy load.  We were obliged to modify the organisation so that it was able to face the challenges of the pandemic.

We are grateful that, although individuals caught Covid, there was never a time when we had to close the warehouse.

As vaccines became widely available in 2021, restrictions were relaxed and bookshops began to reopen, a level of normality returned to our distribution.  But again we were surprised – the changes we had made and the new channels of distribution that had been developed meant that our sales were significantly above those pre-Covid.  We simply give thanks to God for bringing us through these two critical years, while laying the foundations for the coming years. It has been beyond our expectation.