Kerala is a state, which boasts about the highest literacy rate in India. As literacy began to take root among the Malayalam-speaking people of Kerala at the beginning of the 20th century, leaders of the protestant and Mar Thoma Churches joined hands to organize publishing in Malayalam top promote Christian nurture and to equip churches for christian mission. The result was the formation of the Malayalam Christian Literature committee. (MCLC) in 1925, with its base at Thiruvalla in central Kerala. Those who gave leadership for this unique venture included Archdeacon T.G Stewart Smith (CMS), Rev.W.Mathew (LMS), P.O.Philip (mar Thoma) and K.K.Kuruvilla (Mar Thoma). Their’s was a pioneering attempt as they ventured to start publishing, mobilizing indigenous resources and interdenominational cooperation. The MCLC joined the Christian Literature Society (CLS), Madras in 1952 with a semi autonomous status, to serve as its wing for Malayalam publications.

This publishing outfit became the fully autonomous Christava Sahitya Samithy (CSS), with the administrative changes that took place in 1994, to become the ecumenical publishing programme of the churches in Kerala, under the Kerala council of Churches. Soon publishing in English was taken up. During the past ten years the CSS books at Thiruvalla has developed in to a vibrant publishing enterprise; both in Malayalam and in English, eliciting ecumenical cooperation at the national and international level. The CSS is a member of the world Association for Christian Communication (WACC).