Christian missionary rescued in South Africa

 

Following an intense gun battle, South African police have rescued U.S. missionary and pastor Josh Sullivan from his kidnappers.

His rescue comes less than a week after masked armed men took him hostage at gunpoint as he preached a sermon last Thursday at Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell, a township in Gqeberha, located in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province.

According to a statement from the South African Police Service, officers pursued the pastor after receiving intelligence on his whereabouts in another local township. Three suspects died in the ensuing shootout.

Sullivan, a 45-year-old church-planting missionary from Tennessee, was with the gunmen when the shootout began.

“The victim was found inside the same vehicle from which the suspects had launched their attack,” the police statement said. “Miraculously unharmed, he was immediately assessed by medical personnel and is currently in an excellent condition.”

According to police, four masked gunmen entered the church late last Thursday night during a prayer meeting with about 30 attendees. The assailants robbed two cell phones before abducting the 45-year-old pastor and taking him in his own vehicle, a silver Toyota Fortuner. The car was later found abandoned about a mile from the church.  

Sullivan, a husband and father of six, has been a missionary in South Africa since 2018. Sullivan and his family are members of Fellowship Baptist Church, an independent Baptist church in Maryville, Tennessee, where Sullivan has been on staff. His wife and children are among those who witnessed the kidnapping.  

While some reports suggested the kidnapping may have been financially motivated, the attackers targeted the preacher and were well aware of his vocation. The gunmen reportedly knew Sullivan by name. The church also faced threats of being burned down at the end of 2024. 

Sullivan and his wife planted Fellowship Baptist Church on Aug. 1, 2021, to provide a church for the Xhosa-speaking people of South Africa.

To read more news stories, visit the ICC Newsroom. For interviews, please email press@persecution.org.