A North Carolina church has helped cancel more than $3 million of medical debt for 3,355 area families, saying it was driven by the words of Christ about love and forgiveness.

Trinity Moravian Church in Winston-Salem, N.C., purchased nearly $3.3 million of outstanding medical debt and then held a debt-burning ceremony using a list representing the debtors, according to the Independent Tribune, a local newspaper.

"It's a perfect real-world parable for what God does for us," John Jackman, the church's pastor, told the Independent Tribune.

The congregation raised $15,047 as part of its Debt Jubilee Project and then worked with RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit organization that helps cancel medical debt. RIP Medical Debt purchases medical debt in bundles, "millions of dollars at a time at a fraction of the original cost," according to its website. Thanks to RIP Medical Debt's mission, Trinity Moravian was able to cancel more than $3 million in medical debt with the $15,047 in donations. The organization then sent letters to 3,355 families on behalf of the church, telling them their debt had been forgiven, the Independent Tribune reported.

"A stay in the hospital can send a family into poverty or bankruptcy," Jackman said.

He added, "We're setting people free from the slavery of medical debt."

Trinity Moravian Church canceled the debt of families in three counties: Davidson, Davie and Yadkin.

The average medical debt forgiven was about $1,000, the church said on its Facebook page.

"When poor families cannot afford to pay their medical debts, after initial collection attempts, the debts are often sold off to third party debt collectors for a penny on the dollar or less in a practice called factoring," the church explained. "The third party collector then has the legal right to demand the entire amount. Some use very aggressive tactics. This is where our Debt Jubilee Project, working with RIP Medical Debt, can intervene and purchase the debts - but we forgive them rather than collecting."

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