This Christmas season, more than 5,000 families in California were greatly blessed as their medical debts were cleared by a congregation as a “Christmas gift.”
A week ago the Christian Assembly Church announced that the congregation was able to purchase $5.3 million in medical debt. And because of this, they were able to help 5,555 households.
The recipients were selected from some of the church members’ address. So those who received the huge blessing came from 28 different neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
A Christmas Gift
Tom Hughes, the co-senior pastor of the church revealed in the video that it was “a Christmas gift” and that they expect nothing in return.
“All 5,555 households are going to be getting a letter letting them know that their medical debt has been canceled, no strings attached, because of the generosity of the people of Christian Assembly Church,” he said.
“As they recover from their illness, it will help them get back on their feet and avoid homelessness. All of this is being done in Jesus’ name and the letter will share that as well.”
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Pastor Tom viewed such measures as an example of “loving our neighbors far and wide.” It also showcases God’s generosity.
RIP Medical Debts
The church’s partnership with nonprofit organization RIP Medical Debt made the initiative possible. It started in 2014 and took spotlight after being featured on the HBO talk show “Last Week Tonight”. It raises money in order to pay off medical debts of less fortunate people.
Moreover, RIP Medical Debt also works with churches across the U.S. Just like Christian Assembly Church, Victory Life Church of Battle Creek, Michigan also helped eradicate medical debt. They raised $3.89 million.
Pastor James Sunnock of Victory Life said, “All of that $3.8 million was for people within our community, and that’s what we loved about it.”
“It would be great to do it for anybody, but we wanted to invest and bring change within our community … The fact these are people in economically hard times, it felt good to do something without expecting anything in return.”
$1 Billion Medical Debt Eliminated
So far RIP Medical Debt has already eliminated $1 billion in medical debt. Which means more than 500,000 people have been blessed by the organization.
Founders Craig Antico and Jerry Ashton, however, believe that their work isn’t finished yet. Despite the huge milestone they said the work has just begun.
The founders revealed on December 12, “When we were first dreaming up RIP we decided to set an audacious goal: $1 billion of relieved medical debt.”
“To have reached that summit is an incredible accomplishment, but we also now see a much greater peak from this vantage point: billions more of un-payable medical debt burdening everyday Americans. Our work has just begun.”
Source: The Christian Post
