The kidnapping epidemic that has plagued South Africa this decade may have hit a new criminal low when an American pastor was nabbed at gunpoint while he was preaching at a Baptist church in Motherwell, outside the coastal city of Gqeberha.
Local police said four masked men abducted Pastor Josh Sullivan and whisked the minister away in his own car, cutting short a late Thursday prayer meeting he was leading for a gathering at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell. His wife and six children were also in attendance but were unharmed, multiple news outlets reported.
“It is alleged that while a sermon was conducted at the church, four armed and masked male suspects entered the church,” local 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.”
A “family spokesman,” another minister named Jeremy Hall, gave a firsthand account on Friday to TimesLIVE in South Africa. He said the abduction looked like an abduction for ransom. There has been a dramatic surge of kidnappings in South Africa, totaling over 17,000 in the 2023-2023 fiscal year. The Global Initiative Against Transnational Crime attributes the increase to a rise in extortion.
“They knew his name,” Hall said. “The men came into the church and initially held Meagan and walked her towards the door before saying, ‘Josh, is this your wife?’ They then pushed her to the ground and took Josh before driving off in his vehicle.”
The pastor’s silver Toyota Forerunner was found less than two miles shortly afterwards, police told news outlets.
“We are praying for his safe return,” Hall added. The church’s Facebook page is also asking for prayers.
Sullivan arrived in South Africa with his family from Tennessee in November 2018, according to his personal website where he explained his passion to be an African missionary:
On January 1, 2010 I accepted Gods call to preach. Unlike most men, the vision of pastoring a church was not something God placed on my heart. Unsure where God would have me, I knew from the beginning that God would have me in missions. In 2013, I accepted the call to go the mission field in South Africa. We arrived in South Africa in November 2018. We are looking to finish language school soon and plant a church to the Xhosa speaking people.
Pastor Sullivan added, “Nothing that man can do is good, but with Christ at the helm man can be used to bring Glory to his name.”
So far, police have not reported any ransom demand. The case is being investigated by the South Africa Police Service’s (SAPS) anti-gang unit. That same unit is investigating a Chinese national was kidnapped Tuesday in the same city, which is on the Indian Ocean and about 570 miles southeast of Johannesburg.
A spokesperson from the U.S. State Department told CBS News that they were aware of the kidnapping of an American citizen in South Africa. The agency said it has no further information to share at this time.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
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