The seek for an American missionary continued on Sunday in South Africa after his Tennessee church stated he was reportedly kidnapped at gunpoint throughout a service final week.
Josh Sullivan of Tennessee was reportedly kidnapped by armed males who burst right into a church in Motherwell, a township close to the seaport metropolis of Gqeberha within the Japanese Cape province of South Africa, the Fellowship Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee stated on its Fb web page.
Lt. Gen. Avele Fumba of the South African Police Service confirmed to ABC Information on Saturday that the company’s elite Hawks unit is investigating an alleged kidnapping of “a person believed to be the pastor of an area church” within the Gqeberha space.
American missionary Josh Sullivan, seen on this undated photograph, was reportedly kidnapped, April 10, 2025, throughout a church service in Motherwell, South Africa, in response to members of his Tennessee church. (handout Fellowship Baptist Church)
Courtesy of Fellowship Baptist Church
The incident unfolded at about 7 p.m. native time on Thursday when the pastor of the church “was allegedly confronted by no less than 4 unknown armed suspects throughout a church service,” Fumba instructed ABC Information in a press release.
Witnesses instructed investigators that the suspects pressured the minister into his personal automobile and fled, Fumba stated. South African Police Service spokesperson Capt. Andre Beetge confirmed in a press release to The Related Press that the stolen truck, a silver Toyota 4Runner, was discovered deserted in Motherwell a short while after the kidnapping.
“In response to the incident, a multidisciplinary job crew consisting of assorted specialised police models was activated,” Fumba stated. “The crew is presently following all doable results in find the sufferer and apprehend the perpetrators.”
Fumba declined to launch the identify or nationality of the kidnapped pastor, however Fellowship Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee, recognized him on its Fb web page as Josh Sullivan and requested individuals to wish for his protected return.
ABC Information has reached out to the church for additional remark.
Sullivan’s mom, Tonya Rinker of Maryville, Tennessee, additionally confirmed that her son is the pastor who was kidnapped.
“As a mom, you by no means take into consideration one thing like this occurring to your baby however religion carries you thru the uncertainty,” Rinker instructed ABC Information in a press release. “Joshua’s humor and wit are a blessing, he’s all the time prepared with a joke, and endlessly in search of to make individuals chortle.”
Rinker added, “He is an distinctive father, husband, and son, embodying kindness, power and generosity. He has a servant’s coronary heart, a form compassionate spirit and is full of selflessness. He has a burden for misplaced souls and has devoted his life to serving God in South Africa. I pray for his protected return, full of religion and assurance.”
A U.S. State Division spokesperson stated they’re conscious of stories of a U.S. citizen being kidnapped in South Africa.
In line with a biography on what seems to Sullivan’s web site, he describes himself as a “church-planting missionary to the nation of South Africa,” who arrived there in November 2018 together with his spouse, Meagan, and their kids to run Fellowship Baptist’s Motherwell church there.
Sullivan has been on the workers at Fellowship Baptist Church in Maryville since 2012, in response to his web site.