While serving the Lord on the mission field, 17 missionaries (including 5 children) were abruptly kidnapped in Haiti.
An urgent prayer request was sent out by Christian Aid Ministries asking for the safe return of these missionaries – and we are asking everyone reading this to take a moment and pray alongside with them.
The gang responsible for abducting the group is demanding a $17 million dollar ransom in exchange for releasing the missionaries. Here is everything we know so far.
The kidnapped group consists of 17 missionaries – 16 of them Americans, and 1 Canadian.
Five of the hostages are children.
Of course, the gang knows it’s highly unlikely they’ll collect a $17 million ransom ($1 million per person)– but they’ve set the bar high hoping to get as much as they can.
As the abduction was happening in real time, one of the missionaries posted on WhatsApp alerting people that they were in danger and in need of immediate prayer.
Faithwire reported:
“A person familiar with the abduction, who chose to remain anonymous, said one of the abducted Americans posted a message on WhatsApp during those terrifying moments. “Please pray for us!! We are being held hostage, they kidnapped our driver. Pray pray pray. We don’t know where they are taking us.”
While Haiti is known for its violence due to recent turmoil, even locals were surprised the gang kidnapped such a large group of Americans.
The gang responsible is known as 400 Mawozo and is one of the most violent gangs in all of Haiti.
The New York Times reported:
“The gang that the police believe captured the missionary group is among the country’s most dangerous and one of the first to engage in mass kidnappings.
Known as 400 Mawozo, the gang controls the area where the missionaries were abducted in the suburbs of Port-au-Prince. The group has sown terror there for several months, engaging in armed combat with rival gangs and kidnapping businessmen and police officers.
The gang has taken kidnapping in Haiti to a new level, snatching people en masse as they ride buses or walk the streets in groups whose numbers might once have kept them safe.”
One can’t even imagine the terror these missionaries are facing as they’re being held hostage in such conditions.
And while being a missionary and stepping out onto the mission field always carries a risk, it’s still tragic when things like this happen.
Let us take a moment and pray for these 17 missionaries.
May God fill them with His presence and give them a supernatural peace even in the most horrific of situations.
Let us also pray for their loved ones, that God will comfort their fears and give them His strength to endure even though those they love are in harm’s way.
Even through such turmoil and distress – we know God is always sovereign and on His throne.
He commands us to pray for persecuted believers, so please take a moment and say a prayer for these kidnapped missionaries.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” – John 3:16-17
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