North Carolina church erases millions in local medical debt

Trinity Moravian Church in Winston-Salem retired $1,165,796.61 in medical bills for 1,356 families in Forsyth and Davidson counties through its Debt Jubilee Project. The Rev. John Jackman calls the 114-year-old red-brick congregation near the city’s old textile mills a “purple congregation,” with conservative Republicans, liberal Democrats, and both supporters and critics of President Trump.

The project began in 2022, drawing on the biblical idea of Jubilee and the Moravian tradition of debt forgiveness. Trinity partnered with Undue Medical Debt, a nonprofit that buys bundled past-due medical debt on the secondary market at deep discounts and then abolishes it. Trinity’s first drive did not touch hospital pricing or the broader insurance system, but it did clear balances that had already landed on local households.

The model quickly spread beyond Trinity’s own membership. By early 2024, the broader Moravian effort had retired nearly $11 million in medical debt, inspired by Trinity’s example. Trinity later launched a 2025 Christmas campaign aimed at medical debt in Forsyth, Guilford, Davie, Davidson and Stokes counties, seeking to raise $15,000 to erase nearly $3 million in qualifying debt. Trinity’s total topped more than $18 million forgiven over three years, while the North Carolina total reached about $21 million by early 2025.

The church has marked each round of relief with debt-burning ceremonies after receiving certification that the balances have been abolished.

KFF estimates Americans owe at least $220 billion in medical debt, and a 2024 study found that 36% of U.S. households had medical debt, 21% had a past-due medical bill, and 23% were paying a medical bill over time. Trinity’s reach has also extended outside North Carolina: the Moravian Church Board of World Mission used its idea and logo for a separate campaign to raise $50,000 in 50 days for debt forgiveness in several states and at the Moravian Clinic in Ahuas, Honduras.