Our ministries are firmly based on Christian faith. We place great emphasis on biblical studies, tradition-based theological exploration, pastoral care and evangelical mission of the church, with particular focus on the promotion of ecumenical movement.

We care for the spiritual aspirations of the Chinese people and to serve the Chinese church and society.

We affirm the depth and breadth of written word as a medium of communicating thoughts and ideas, not only in the form of literary works, but also in the form of books and publications, and even on the Internet or other media. We strive to make use of all kinds of literature to provide holistic care for all people.

We have been known as a society or council since our inception, which means our mission are not solely focus on publishing per se, but the cultural mandate of expanding God’s reign on earth.

Following the spirit of the Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge Among the Chinese (SDCK)/Chinese Literature Society for China(CLS), and it is our vocation to publish high-quality Christian books and magazines for Chinese people. Being an interdenominational Christian publisher, all of our executive committee members and staffs come from different churches, and we adhere, in the spirit of Christ, to the two major publishing mission set forth by the CLS, namely, “preaching the gospel” and “promoting academic excellence”, and contribute to the Chinese churches throughout the world in our publishing work.

In 1887, the Society for the Diffusion of Christian and General Knowledge Among the Chinese (SDCK) was founded in Shanghai (From 1916 onwards, the Society came to be known as Christian Literature Society, CLS). Through the publication of Christian books in Chinese and books on western politics and science, the missionaries strive to promote cultural exchange between the East and the West, and thus spread the knowledge of Christianity and other knowledge among the Chinese people.

“Wàn Guó Gōng Bào” (萬國公報, literally: “Common Newspaper of Ten Thousand Nations”) , published by CLS, was one of the most widely known and prominent of these publications. It became an important means for the people of Qing Dynasty to learn first-hand about democracy, freedom and scientific thought.

Later on, as other commercial publishers operated by the Chinese flourished, the Society was no longer the sole promoter of modern knowledge in China. Ministerial focus of CLS was then shifted. Greater emphasis had been put on publishing theological and spiritual books for local churches and seminaries.

With the foundation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, most of the foreign missionaries and foreign staff of CLS left and CLS could no longer supply books to overseas Chinese churches. Some of the CLS staff move from Shanghai to Hong Kong and subsequently initiated a new publishing organization with local church leaders at the time. Council on Christian Literature for Overseas Chinese (CCLOC) was thus established in 1951. In 1965, our name was changed to Chinese Christian Literature Council (CCLC).

We are a not-for-profit Christian publishing house, relied mainly on book sales for its income. In 1973, we reached the goal of full self-sufficiency and had maintained a sustainable growth ever since.