Christian missionary Phyllis Sortor has been released by her abductors in Nigeria. The Free Methodist Church USA issued a press statement confirming that the 71-year-old—who has spent decades as a missionary—had been released, though it did not say whether or not a ransom was paid. “As a matter of sound policy, and to help protect the many, many people who helped secure Phyllis’ freedom, we will have no comment concerning the efforts that were undertaken to secure her release. Please continue to pray for Phyllis as she processes the ordeal she has faced. Also pray for Phyllis’ family members, who have been profoundly affected by this experience.”
Sortor has been in Nigeria since 2005, remaining even after the death of her husband in 2008. There she worked to establish schools for local children, built clean water wells, helped create “grazing projects as one solution to long-term conflicts between Nigerian farmers and Fulani herdsmen” and assisted with a local child sponsorship program. On Feb. 24 she was kidnapped from the Hope Academy school by gunmen. She was released Friday evening, after spending 11 days in captivity …
