Frquently Asked Questions

Love In the Name of Christ (Love INC) is a proven model that networks local churches, church volunteers, and community organizations together to help people in need. Through Love INC, churches and individual Christians are mobilized to work together, across denominational lines, to provide coordinated help to the poor with basic needs such as food and clothing, to longer-term responses such as life skills training and transitional housing programs.

Founded in 1977, today there are more than 150 Love INC affiliates in 30 states, representing a network of more than 9,000 churches, 7,000 community-based organizations, and 300,000 volunteers meeting more than one million needs each year.

Over the years the Love INC National Headquarters has assisted communities in developing new affiliates. It has supported the existing affiliates by providing training, technical assistance, support, networking opportunities, and best practices.

• Existing resources operating independently are not adequate to meet current and growing levels of need.

• One church alone cannot deal with all of the complex issues of poverty. It takes churches working together, across denominational lines, to meet these multifaceted needs.

The Clearinghouse is the foundation of Love INC. Through the Clearinghouse, Love INC receives requests for help, screens the requests for extent of need and legitimacy, and refers the requests to a local church ministry, church volunteer, or community agency. Love INC follows up to ensure the need was met and to offer spiritual support. Through the Clearinghouse, Love INC also identifies gaps in services and resources in the community and helps churches develop ministries to “fill in the gaps” not being met by agencies or the government.

Many affiliates go even deeper in fulfilling the mission by adding a Love INC Relational Ministry program. Through Relational Ministry, Love INC helps individuals and families in chronic need make lasting changes in their lives. Love INC trains and links church volunteers with people in need on a long-term basis to provide mentoring, goal setting, skills training, and spiritual and emotional support, along with the full array of services and resources available through the Love INC network. Lastly, some affiliates go even further to meet the needs of people by adding Community Ministry programs.

These initiatives, which include comprehensive campus communities, are designed to address the deeper issues that contribute to poverty and hopelessness, such as lack of affordable housing, employment opportunities, and health care resources.

• People in need receive coordinated help through a network of church and community services and resources.

• Churches model unity of the Body of Christ as they work together, across denominational lines, to fulfill their Biblical mandate to help the poor and needy.

• Church members receive opportunities to use their unique gifts and talents in specific, manageable ways to serve others.

• Community agencies refer people in need to Love INC to fill gaps in services, and receive referrals from Love INC of verified needs that are appropriate to the agency’s services.