Pastor preaches during muzzle kidnapping

Police and a colleague said Friday that South African gunman kidnapped an American missionary from his church while preaching.

Pastor Josh Sullivan was kidnapped Thursday night at Motherwell Scholarship Baptist Church outside the coastal city of Gqeberha, which appeared to be a ransom kidnapping, a colleague told AFP.

In recent years, the number of kidnappings, including those targeting criminal gangs, has been increasing.

“There were allegedly four armed and masked male suspects entered the church during a sermon at the church,” police told CBS News. “They snatched two cell phones and fled the scene with a 45-year-old male pastor.”

A U.S. State Department spokesman told CBS News they are aware of a kidnapped by a US citizen in South Africa. The agency said there is currently no other information to share.

Rev. Jeremy Hall, a pastor based in the southeastern city, told AFP that the kidnapping could be “financially related.”

Police spokesman Andre Beetge said the agreement states that once a ransom is requested, the case will be handed over to the Eagles – Eagles – a dedicated police department investigating organized crime, economic crime, corruption and other serious crimes.

“As far as I understand, no ransom was proposed,” Beetge said.

Hall said Sullivan was holding a prayer meeting with about 30 people, including his wife and six children, when armed kidnappers entered.

“They knew him by their name,” he said. They took him to the gun, forced him into the car and drove away. An abandoned car about a mile from the church was recovered.

According to his personal website, Sullivan arrived in South Africa with his family from Tennessee in November 2018.

“We hope to complete the language school as soon as possible and build a church to those who speak to Xhosa,” he wrote on the website.

According to the website, Sullivan has been working at the Scholarship Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee since February 2012.

“Pray for South African missionary Josh Sullivan,” the church wrote on its Facebook page.

Sullivan’s wife Megan made a statement through a family spokesperson Saturday.

“I just want to say thank you for your love and prayer,” she said. “We beg you to continue breaking into the throne until Josh is safe at home.”

As they await Sullivan’s safe reward, supporters flock to the pastor’s personal blog website and other social media platforms to provide their blessings.

A poster named Richard Stockton said on the church website: “We now pray that you send it from these evil people.” “Pray that the Holy Spirit works hard in their hearts and be saved. Free you!!!”

Another supporter named Kody Moore said Josh was “a faithful brother who declared that Christ had a lot in Africa”.

He tweeted on X: “Please pray that Josh will be taken home safely during this absolutely terrible time, especially his family. May Christ be amplified.”

Police oppose the tribute unit that a Chinese national was also kidnapped in the Indian Ocean, about 570 miles southeast of Johannesburg.

According to police statistics, in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, there were more than 17,000 kidnappings in South Africa, an increase of 11% over the previous year.

South Africa is also plagued by escalating gun violence. In South Africa without guns, 33 people are killed by guns every day, a nonprofit organization advocates reducing gun violence.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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