An American church-planting missionary was abducted at gunpoint while leading a prayer meeting at his church in South Africa on Thursday, police say.
Pastor Josh Sullivan was kidnapped from Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell, near the coastal city of Gqeberha, late Thursday.
"It is alleged that while a sermon was conducted at the church, four armed and masked male suspects entered the church," police said in a statement, according to Vanguard. "They robbed two cell phones and then took the 45-year-old male pastor with them and fled the scene."
The husband and father of six has served as a missionary in South Africa since 2018, according to his family's online biography page.
He has served on the staff of Fellowship Baptist Church, an independent Baptist church in Maryville, Tennessee, since 2012 and trained under the tutelage of Pastor Tom Hatley, who has been the couple's pastor since their childhood. In an endorsement statement, Hatley said Josh and Meagan Sullivan have a "tremendous desire to share the gospel with the Xhosa people of South Africa."
Josh Sullivan completed four years of work in a satellite school of Macedonia Baptist College in Midland, North Carolina.
"Please pray for Josh Sullivan, missionary to South Africa," the church wrote on Facebook Thursday. "He was kidnapped at gun point by six men during their church service this evening."
The most recent update on the couple's blog from March reported the conversion of two women who put their trust in Christ and the baptism of two others.
"What makes these baptisms a little more exciting is that both were the first two people baptized who were not directly invited to our church by me or my wife," Sullivan wrote. "They were invited by some of our church members, heard the gospel, and were saved. This is what we pray to see more of in the coming year. We are so honoured to see God work in the lives of our people. What a great God we serve!"
Another local pastor, Jeremy Hall, told AFP that Sullivan hosted a prayer meeting for 30 people at his church when the kidnapping occurred and the motive appeared to be ransom as the attackers knew the pastor's name and were aware of his vocation.
A U.S. State Department spokesperson told BBC that the agency is aware of the situation involving an American citizen in South Africa.
Captain Andre Beetge, a police spokesperson, confirmed Sullivan's kidnapping to WBIR and stated the case is being handled by a special kidnapping and ransom unit.
"As soon as there's kidnappings with ransoms, Hawks takes the cases," Beetge said.
In recent years, there has been a dramatic surge of kidnappings in South Africa, totalling over 17,000 in the 2023-2023 fiscal year. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime attributes the increase to a rise in extortion.
