{"id":3666,"date":"2025-04-11T18:00:02","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T18:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/u-s-pastor-abducted-at-gunpoint-while-delivering-sermon-in-south-africa-they-knew-him-by-name\/"},"modified":"2025-04-11T18:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T18:00:03","slug":"u-s-pastor-abducted-at-gunpoint-while-delivering-sermon-in-south-africa-they-knew-him-by-name","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/u-s-pastor-abducted-at-gunpoint-while-delivering-sermon-in-south-africa-they-knew-him-by-name\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. pastor abducted at gunpoint while delivering sermon in South Africa: “They knew him by name”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Gunmen in South Africa have abducted a U.S. missionary from his church as he was delivering a sermon, police and a colleague said Friday.<\/p>\n

Pastor Josh Sullivan was abducted late Thursday at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell outside the coastal city of Gqeberha in what appeared to be a kidnapping for ransom, a colleague told AFP.<\/p>\n

Kidnappings, including by criminal gangs that target people for whom large ransoms can be demanded, have been increasing in South Africa in recent years.<\/p>\n

“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. “They robbed two cell phones and then took the 45-year-old male pastor with them and fled the scene.”<\/p>\n

A spokesperson from the U.S. State Department told the BBC<\/a> that they were aware of the kidnapping of an American citizen in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Rev. Jeremy Hall, a pastor also based in the southeastern city, told AFP the abduction was probably “financially related.”<\/p>\n

Sullivan was holding a prayer meeting with about 30 people, including his wife and six children, when the armed kidnappers entered, Hall said.<\/p>\n

“They knew him by name,” he said. They took him at gunpoint and forced him into his car and drove off. The abandoned car was recovered about a mile from the church.<\/p>\n

Sullivan arrived in South Africa with his family from Tennessee in November 2018, according to his personal website<\/a>. <\/p>\n

“We are looking to finish language school soon and plant a church to the Xhosa speaking people,” he writes on his site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sullivan has been on the staff at Fellowship Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee, since February of 2012, according to the website.<\/p>\n

“Please pray for Josh Sullivan, missionary to South Africa,” the church wrote on its Facebook page.<\/p>\n

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Please pray for Josh Sullivan, missionary to South Africa. He was kidnapped at gun point by six men during their church service this evening.<\/p>\n

Note: All comments other than prayers will be deleted.<\/p>\n

Posted by Fellowship Baptist Church<\/a> on\u00a0Thursday, April 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

The police anti-gang unit said a Chinese national was also kidnapped Tuesday in the city, which is on the Indian Ocean and about 570 miles southeast of Johannesburg.<\/p>\n

There were more than 17,000 kidnappings in South Africa in the 2023-2024 financial year, an 11-percent increase over the previous year, according to police statistics.<\/p>\n

South Africa has also been plagued by escalating gun violence. Each day, 33 people are killed by guns in South Africa, according\u00a0Gun Free South Africa<\/a>, a nonprofit advocating for reduced gun violence.<\/p>\n

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