American Missionary Kidnapped in Nigeria

An American missionary has been kidnapped from a missions compound in Kogi state, Nigeria. Rev. Phyllis Sortor, a missionary of the Free Methodist Church, was taken Monday morning by armed men. 

Local police said that five men entered the compound firing shots into the air. Sortor was the only person taken and the abductors have demanded $300,000 for her return. 

Sortor’s family and friends said that serving the Lord through missions was her life passion. 

"She believes in God, she's doing God's work," Sortor's stepson, Richard, said at a prayer vigil. 

Brenda Young, lead pastor of Cornerstone Free Methodist Church in Akron, Ohio spoke of Sortor saying, "She's one of the most devoted, compassionate, hard-driving women I've ever known.”

"Her feeling was that these were her people, and that she loved them. She felt like this is where she was supposed to be,” she continued. 

Christian Today reports that kidnapping is a multi-million dollar enterprise in Nigeria as abductors take civilians captive then demand high ransoms for their release.

Publication date: February 25, 2015