Rev. Josh Sullivan was abducted while delivering an evening sermon at the Fellowship Baptist Church in Motherwell, in South Africa's Eastern Cape province, at around 7 p.m.

Sullivan, originally from Tennessee, was holding a prayer meeting with about 30 people, including his wife and six children, when the armed kidnappers entered, said another pastor speaking for the family, Rev. Jeremy Hall, the morning after the crime.

"They knew him by name," said Hall, quoted by The Herald newspaper. "They took him at gunpoint and forced him into his car, and drove off."

The abandoned car was recovered not far from the church.

Hall said the wife and children of the 45-year-old preacher escaped unharmed.

The Herald, a local newspaper, quoted a police spokesman saying that a ransom demand had been made for the U.S. missionary.

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.

In recent years, there has been a rise in kidnappings in South Africa, notably by criminal groups that target individuals when they believe high ransom demands can be made.

"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 car was found a few kilometres (miles) away shortly afterwards," said Hall.

A multidisciplinary task force made up of different police specialized units was activated following the incident.

"The joint team is currently following all possible leads to locate the victim and apprehend the perpetrators. A ransom was demanded by the suspects," police confirmed, according to IOL newspapers.

The Hawks police unit encouraged anyone with knowledge of the kidnapping to step forward to assist them with the probe.

"All information will be treated with the strictest confidentiality." The amount of the ransom demand at this point has not been disclosed.

Hall said the family members were still shocked by the incident as there had been no warning signs before the nighttime incident.

"We are just praying for his safe return," he said.

Police spokesperson Captain Andre Beetge said the 45-year-old pastor was abducted by four armed and masked men.

"They stole two cellphones and then took the 45-year-old male pastor with them and fled the scene in the pastor's vehicle.

"The silver Toyota Fortuner was recovered a short while later in Motherwell," near the city of Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), a major seaport.

He said a kidnapping and armed robbery case was opened by the South African Police Service Motherwell and was being investigated by the SAPS Anti Gang Unit (AGU).

Sullivan is a "church planter missionary", a missionary specializing in establishing new churches, or planting new congregations in areas where there are few or no existing Christian communities — for the Fellowship Baptist Church.

He has been a missionary in South Africa since moving to the country with his family in November 2018 to establish a church within the Xhosa-speaking community.

Xhosa is one of the 11 official languages of South Africa and was the mother tongue of Nelson Mandela.

Sullivan arrived in South Africa with his family from Tennessee in November 2018, according to his personal website.

"We are looking to finish language school soon and plant a church to the Xhosa-speaking people," he writes on his site.

Sullivan had been on the staff at Fellowship Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee, from February of 2012, according to the website.

"Please pray for Josh Sullivan, missionary to South Africa," the church wrote on its Facebook page.

Sullivan writes, "Nothing that man can do is good, but with Christ at the helm man can be used to bring Glory to his name."

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.

South Africa has also been plagued by escalating gun violence. Each day, 33 people are killed by guns in South Africa, according to Gun Free South Africa, a nonprofit advocating for reduced gun violence.