Debt Jubilee Project

Join us Sunday, October 18 at 11 am when we will hold another Debt Jubilee, symbolically burning the past-due medical debts owed by 1,432 Triad neighbors! Working with Undue Medical Debt, we were able to purchase these debts (in the same way a third party debt collector might) for about a penny on the dollar. Then, instead of collecting, we abolish the debts as a gift, removing them from credit reports and preventing aggressive collection efforts. The average debt abolished was $1,174.33.

The Debt Jubilee Project started in 2022, and since then has abolished $27,619,203 in medical debts in Forsyth and surrounding counties. "It's a perfect real-world parable for what God does for us," says the Rev. John Jackman, long-term pastor of the congregation. Medical debt has become a major problem in our society, he says. "Most personal bankruptcies are now due to medical debt. A stay in the hospital can send a family into poverty or bankruptcy."

We hope you will join us for our Debt Jubilee celebration!

NC Debts Forgiven

Dollar amount of past-due NC medical debts that have been purchased and abolished by the Debt Jubilee Project

Households Helped

The number of NC families that have had past-due medical debts abolished by the Debt Jubilee Project

Our Summer 2024 Campaign targeted 14 counties west of Forsyth - in the "High Country." Many of these counties are very challenged for health care. In July and August, we raised $13,828.90, which included help from Fries Memorial Moravian Church and Moravia Moravian Church, and donations from many individuals. We specified that any "overflow" could be used in any other NC county. At the end, Undue Medical Debt was able to purchase a total of $3,817,084.95 in past-due medical debts owed by 2,544 NC households.

Joel Osteen might have a plane and a mansion but you are the real MEGA church. Thank you!! -- Carol M, Iowa

I'm glad to see that there are good people, regardless of what the media portrays, social media distorts what is real, that there are good people everywhere. -- Dave S., Maine

We saw what you did for your community by buying up medical debt. You are amazing. -- Peter, Delaware

Thank you for doing something truly Christlike in a world packed with Pharisees. -- Caroline , Maine

I'm not a church goer, but I just read about your Debt Jubilee and I wanted to say that it helped bolster my faith. This is how a church should be. God bless y'all. -- Jimmy P., South Carolina

I want you to know that you've brought back a lot of my faith in churches and I hope you can continue to change lives. -- Aaron H.

It has affected me deeply to realize there are people out there who live with this kind of compassion. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you have done for your locals. - Bridget A.

Your act of kindness really really fortified my feelings towards humans in general. There’s still a lot of good people out there, and good people willing to do good things. -- Matt Grace

So it is with a full heart and tears in my eyes that I write to thank you for purchasing the medical debt of those in your community. With that one act, you have preached the gospel so loudly that I heard you all the way in California. Praise be to God. -- Laura O, California

I’m not a church going man... but I wanted too know you brought me a lot of joy reading that story. I don’t know you but I’m proud of you. -- Dave M., Maryland

Trinity Moravian Church is partnering with Undue Medical Debt to purchase and forgive medical debt in our area.

Our first project in 2022 was able purchase — and forgive — $1,165,796.61 in medical debts in Forsyth and Davidson counties, assisting a total of 1,356 real Triad families. Our second campaign completed on January 31st, 2023, and was able to purchase $3,295,863.64 in medical debts. We were able to help 3,133 families in Davidson county, 155 families in Davie county, and 67 families in Yadkin county. Our third campaign focused on Yadkin, Surry, Stokes, Randolph, Allegehany, Davie, Guilford, Wilkes, Forsyth ,and Rockingham counties. We were able to help 2,511 families by forgiving $3.6 million in debt. Our fourth campaign targeted Wake County, purchasing $6,560,412 in medical debt, and aiding 2,973 families.

How can we do this? Medical debt is often sold off to a secondary market for pennies on the dollar. Undue Medical Debt has created a visionary system where they intervene and buy that hard-to-collect debt for a penny on the dollar.

1 in 4 Americans owes medical debt that cannot be immediately paid. More than half the personal bankruptcies in the US are due to medical debt. The US is the only industrialized nation where an illness can reduce a family to poverty. Until recently, medical debt was included in credit reports, crippling families’ ability to rent an apartment or buy a car. Families working paycheck-to-paycheck who were “making it” before are driven into poverty by an illness or an accident, and the subsequent medical debt.