The pastor of kidnapped American missionary Josh Sullivan has said he was not "naïve" when he and his wife went as missionaries to South Africa.
The 35-year-old was abducted last week while preaching at the church he planted with his wife, Megan, in Gqeberha, South Africa.
Speaking to Fox News Tom Hatley, Pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Maryville, Tennessee said: "They knew the crime rate is high. They knew that this could happen.
"Megan has been robbed previously. Josh has been robbed previously. It's a dangerous place and they were aware of that, but they love the Xhosa people and they wanted to get the Gospel to them."
"There's not a lot of Gospel in these townships to my knowledge. There's missionaries in South Africa that are going to English-speaking people, but as far as the tribal people and the Xhosa people in particular, there's just not a lot of effort there and Josh is really one of the pioneers there."
Whilst preaching on Thursday evening at the Fellowship Baptist Church Motherwell, Mambalaza Street, four armed men burst through the door of the church at around 7pm using Josh's first name and seeming to know him.
The couple’s children were present at the time. Along with their mother but they were left unharmed.
The couple been in South Africa for seven years and moved from the United States in 2018.
Writing on his prayer blog a few weeks before his abduction Sullivan wrote: "[In February] a few troublemakers in the community tried to stir up trouble, and 'close our doors.'
"There was a community meeting. In this meeting, our church and myself were accused of many different lies. I had to answer against the accusations, and it seemed nothing ever came of it. It was stressful and discouraging, but we surrendered it to the Lord."
Hatley, who has been the Sullivan's pastor since childhood and who has has personally mentored him as a member of staff Fellowship Baptist Church in Tennessee said
"It was something that we all knew could happen there, but we always hoped and prayed that it would not."