Church pays off medical debt of nearly 2,000 families

A church helped nearly 2,000 families in the United States get out of medical debt by shouldering the amount for them through the help of a nonprofit organization.

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Sam Rijfkoagel, lead pastor of the Grand Rapids First church in Michigan, surprised his churchgoers with the good news during his sermon last Sunday, June 30.

He stated that he made the decision to help pay the medical debts of random families to show members of his church what God has done for them “in a little way.”

The act of kindness was made possible with the help of RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit that purchases medical debt at a lower cost, leaving the debtor with nothing else to pay.

Thanks to the church’s donation, a total collective medical debt of about $1.83 million (P93.8 million) from nearly 2,000 families have been paid for.

The largest amount paid off was nearly $76,000 (P3.8 million), which was attributed to three different debt accounts owned by one person.

“They owe us nothing,” the pastor said. “We can be peacemakers. Just as Jesus forgave and canceled the debt of our sins, we also canceled the debt of those in our community.”

As per video of the sermon, 1,899 families from the counties of Kent, Ottawa, Allegan and Ionia received letters last week, informing them that they no longer need to pay their debts — no strings attached. JB

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