For everything there is a season, and the season of Love INC is coming to an end.

The Love INC of Warren County Board of Directors sent a letter to the churches and other entities that have been its partners.

The entity will close down effective Dec. 31. The directors are hoping to be able to begin again, in a capacity that is more appropriate to serving Warren County’s churches in the current environment.

“In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon wisely stated, ‘For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven,’ according to the letter. “Seasons change and so do the needs of our churches and our culture.”

The directors — Kari Swanson, Mary Hellman, Davie Agens, Bonnie Riggle, and Rev. Jeff Ewing — voted unanimously to look in a new direction.

“This decision was not taken lightly or made quickly,” according to the letter from the board. “There have been many months (even years) of evaluation and re-evaluation of this ministry and its role in Warren County. We have total peace and assurance that this is the right decision.”

The mission of Love INC of Warren County is “to help churches help people,” according to Executive Director Heidi Kafferlin. The mission of the National Love in the Name of Christ organization is “mobilizing the local church to transform lives and communities in the name of Christ.”

“We serve as the central link between the clients, the churches, and many of the agencies in our community who are all working toward one common goal of serving those in need,” Kafferlin said. “Our main goal is to connect clients with churches so that they can not only address the physical need, but also their need for Jesus Christ and His saving grace.”

“We have had some tremendous successes in the last few years,” she said. “I think our primary success is the bridges that we’ve built between the caseworkers of our local behavioral health and government agencies and the churches in our community.”

“When we’ve gone through the intake process with a client and we’re trying to recommend the best course of action to a church, having a caseworker’s input into the situation is extremely valuable,” Kafferlin said. “We’ve had nothing but cooperation and helpfulness from entities like Forest Warren Human Services, Beacon Light, EOC, and LIFE NWPA in our efforts to help churches serve clients in the most helpful way possible.”

The board members are looking for an even better way to be helpful.

“The board feels that the resources required to keep Love INC going are too much to reliably sustain,” according to the letter.

Dismantling Love INC of Warren County and rebooting will save money that was spent running the operation and living up to the national organization’s expectations and allow more to go toward meeting needs. Belonging to the national organization requires following its rules.

“The model that is mandated by the national organization is not the best fit for our community at this time,” the directors said. “The expense of belonging to the national organization is hefty for us, as well as the day-to-day expenses of a ‘brick-and-mortar’ office.”

“The board really believes that there is another way to accomplish what we’ve been doing without that overhead, and without asking those resources of our churches,” Kafferlin said.

“We’ve been able to develop a database of our clients that is cloud-based and therefore remotely accessible,” she said. “Coupled with a VoIP (internet based) phone, this process becomes very easy to accomplish remotely, changing the game of needing a brick-and-mortar office, which is a costly operation to keep up.”

The Love INC model recommends that churches be the primary source of support for the entity and its efforts, Kafferlin said. That has become less attainable in the pandemic.

“COVID has really changed the culture of our churches,” she said. “Many of them were already struggling before the pandemic, and now they are hurting that much more.”

“As a result of that dynamic, we have also been struggling because we have not been able to raise the amount of funding that we used to,” Kafferlin said. To avoid continually asking more of the churches, “we have had to put more and more effort into fundraising events in the last few years.”

“Our board feels very strongly that if the churches are struggling, then we need to reevaluate our model and not be asking for their precious resources in order to keep our lights on,” she said.

“Instead of continuing to ask for funding and manpower, we would rather they use those resources for their own long-term well-being, as well as that of their immediate neighborhoods,” the directors said.

“This is merely the end of a season and the opportunity to address the needs in our community in a different, hopefully more effective way that gives us the freedom to be flexible and not locked into a model that isn’t the best fit,” Kafferlin said.

“We would like you all to know that the board, staff, and volunteers at Love INC are filled with hope and excitement about some wonderful new ideas ahead,” the board members said. “We will continue to discuss and brainstorm about a model that would be most appropriate for every city, borough, and township across Warren County. We will keep you updated about how needs will continue to be met down the road.”