US Pastor Missing after claiming kidnapped during South Africa Church’s service

• An American Pastor was kidnapped by a group of men during a service in his church in South Africa this week
• Josh Sullivan is believed to have been taken together with two phones and his silver Toyota Fortuner – which was later found abandoned – police told BBC
• Fellowship Baptist Church has since asked others to “please pray” for the missionary

A pastor from the United States was kidnapped by several armed men during a service at his church in South Africa.

Missionary Josh Sullivan is believed to have been abducted on the evening of Thursday, April 10, at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell, outside the city of Gqeberha, according to several reports and a post on Facebook From Tennessee-based Fellowship Baptist Church.

“Pray for Josh Sullivan, missionary to South Africa,” the church wrote in a statement. “He was kidnapped with weapons by six men during their worship tonight.”

Both of it AFP (via CBS News) and BBC Later, with reference to the local police in South Africa, reported that “four armed and masked male suspects entered” the church during a sermon.

Police spokesman Captain Andre Beetge told the BBC that the men are alleged to stole two phones before fled from the stage in Sullivan’s silver Toyota Fortuner – which the police later found abandoned without a trace of the pastor.

“We pray that everyone prays for Josh. I came out here to ask for prayer,” Sullivan’s father -in -law, David Witt, told Local Station Wvlt. “We’re in a really tense situation right now.”

“It’s scary. They never intend to hurt anyone or do anything. I can’t believe this has happened,” Christina McMillin added, who works with the pastor’s wife. “I hope they find him soon and he’s okay.”

Pastor Jeremy Hall, a pastor in the same city, told AFP (via CBS News) that the alleged kidnapping was probably “financially related.” He claimed that it took place during a prayer meeting with about 30 people, including Sullivan’s wife and six children.

“They knew him by name,” Hall said of the men who are allegedly away with the religious leader.

An American Department of Speech tells people that the organization is aware that an American citizen was kidnapped in South Africa.

Spokesman adds that there is no “greater priority than the security and security of American citizens abroad.”

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Beetge told both the BBC and AFP that if a ransom is required, a case would be handed over to the specialized Hawks Police Unit, which investigates organized and commercial crime. He said, according to AFP, that “no ransom has been raised.”

“The police are currently following all possible leads to locate the victim and arrest the perpetrators,” said Hawk’s spokesman, Oberst Avele Fumba, according to the BBC.

Sullivan has been employed by Fellowship Baptist Church since February 2012Training under Pastor Tom Hatley. The following year, he accepted “The call to go to the mission area in South Africa”, before he arrived until November 2018, the church said in a social media post.

On FacebookHatley asked friends to “pray for their safe return.”

The kidnappings have increased by 264% during the last decade in South Africa, According to statistics from the South African police service.

A Chinese citizen was also kidnapped in the area days earlier, the police anti-Gang unit confirmed to AFP (via CBS News.)