The lay pastor of St. George’s Memorial Church, the Anglican parish in Baghdad, has been kidnapped. The kidnappers have threatened to kill him if the church does not pay them $40,000 within 24 hours.

The Rev. Canon Andrew White, vicar of St. George’s, informed supporters of the Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East in an email message sent April 25.

Through negotiations, the parish was able to lower the initial ransom demand. While objecting in principle to ransom payments, Canon White noted, “if do not pay them quickly, people are killed. We have already lost too many of our leaders.”

In September 2005 the vestry and lay leaders of St. George’s went missing and are presumed dead after their car disappeared in the Sunni Triangle, a 100-mile swath from Baghdad north to Tikrit. The five Iraqi Anglicans were returning from a church conference in Amman, Jordan.

Canon White asked for all to pray for the lay pastor’s safe return and “that in the next few hours we will find all the needed money.”

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