American pastor Josh Sullivan has gone missing in South Africa after he was abducted by armed gunmen in the middle of a church sermon at the Fellowship Baptist Church Motherwell in the city of Gqeberha.

According to local reports, the incident occurred around 7pm on Thursday when four gunmen stormed the Fellowship Baptist Church Motherwell before pulling Mr Sullivan away from the pulpit and whisking him away in his silver Toyota Fortuner.

Spokesperson for the Sullivan family, Jeremy Hall, deemed the attack personal, claiming on Friday that the pastor’s abduction was a planned act as the gunmen knew Mr Sullivan by name and also recognised his wife, Meagan.

“They knew his name,” Mr 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.”

Shortly after the incident, Mr Sullivan’s car was found a few kilometres from the church. However, the whereabouts of the pastor remains unknown and no ransom has been demanded by the kidnappers as of Friday.

Meanwhile, police spokesperson Andre Beetge confirmed that Mr Sullivan was kidnapped by four armed and masked men, adding that an anti-gang unit of the South African Police Service (SAPS) Motherwell division had taken over the investigation. 

“They stole two cellphones and took the pastor with them and fled the scene in the pastor’s vehicle. The silver Toyota Fortuner was recovered a short while later in Motherwell,” Mr Beetge said. 

Mr Sullivan is a seasoned church planter missionary, who specialises in establishing new congregations in areas where there are few or no existing Christian communities — for the Fellowship Baptist Church.

He moved to South Africa alongside his wife in 2018 where the couple established the Fellowship Baptist Church Motherwell in the Xhosa-speaking community.