Some pulled coins and small bills from pockets and purses to place into offering plates. Others wrote large checks and pooled funds. Together, a network of Chicago churches from several denominations wiped out $5.3 million in medical debt -- by raising only $38,000.

This fall, nearly 6,000 families received letters wishing them "a beautiful, wonderful holiday" and telling them their debt had been forgiven. While recipients might never enter the doors of the partnering congregations, which were listed in the letter, the churches erased their debt as an expression of God's love, said the Rev. Traci Blackmon, the associate general minster for justice and local church ministries of the United Church of Christ.

The households had been identified as having especially burdensome debt by RIP Medical Debt, a New York-based nonprofit that cancels debt after buying it the way debt collectors do: for a fraction of the cost.

Health care providers and related companies sell medical debt at a discount if they aren't able to collect, and debt buyers then seek to collect as much payment on the debt as possible. Instead of engaging in that process, RIP Medical Debt uses donations to buy out the debt at the discounted price and forgive it.