A missionary group has launched an innovative program of planting Christian bookstores in Africa using international shipping containers—dubbed a "bookshop in a box."

Founded in England in 1941 as Christian Literature Crusade, CLC International runs about 200 bookstores in 60 countries. CLC works with Christian Booklink—a ministry in the U.K., U.S. and Australia—which collects new and used Bibles, Christian books and other materials that are donated by publishers, churches and individuals.

In the past several years, CLC has shipped multiple tons of the donated material to Africa, India and other areas of the world, where they are given away or sold at a nominal price. But it can be difficult to get Bibles and Christian books out to the people who need them because many live in isolated towns and rural areas.

James Pitman, former U.S. mission director for CLC who was recently named director of retail operations for CLC USA, first heard about the inexpensive method of starting a bookstore using shipping containers when he read about a ministry opening one in Nigeria, which inspired CLC to test one in Nairobi, Kenya.

This year, the first CLC bookshop in a box opened in the Umoja area of Kenya and is doing well, Pitman said. "The idea has great potential," he added. The shipping containers are steel boxes, which are about 8 feet high, 8 feet wide and 20 feet or 40 feet long. With a roof added for shade, doors and windows cut out and an air conditioner installed, a container is transformed into a small but useful building with 160 or 320 square feet of floor space.

Lloyd Hodkinson, international director of Christian Booklink, was instrumental in developing the idea along with co-workers in Kenya.

"By taking a shipping container and converting it into a shop, we reduce the costs, so that people are able to buy affordable Christian books," he said. "The staff would be trained both in retail operation and evangelism, and supported by the existing supply chain that CLC has in each country."

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