Beau Shroyer Detroit Lakes pastor killed in Angola, Africa after moving family to become a missionary. SIM USA who the pastor had worked with release statement as circumstances leading to ‘act of violence’ involving locals remain vague.
A former lead pastor of a Minnesota church was killed in ‘act of violence’ after moving his family to Africa to become a missionary.
Beau Shroyer, 44, former lead pastor of Lakes Area Vineyard Church in Detroit Lakes was murdered in the Southern African nation of Angola on Friday, lead pastor of the church, Troy Easton, wrote in a letter to his congregation.
‘Our dear brother and friend Beau Shroyer was killed in an act of violence while serving Jesus in Angola, Africa,’ the letter read.
A clash of culture, values and religion?
Easton shared that ‘details about what’s happened that are still unknown,’ but they have been in contact with his wife, Jackie, and are doing all they can for her and their five children during this ‘shocking and awful time.’
The cleric’s murder follows Shroyer moving to Angola with his wife, Jackie, and their five children in 2021 to become a missionary with the organization SIM USA.
SIM USA, describes itself as an organization ‘long time’ involved in ‘cross-cultural missions.’
Notes the entity, ‘For more than a century, SIM USA has been led by this belief: no one should live and die without hearing the good news of the gospel.’
The pastor previously described the African area as a ‘remote bush village’ with no electricity, sewer or water systems, the Detroit Lakes Tribune reported.
‘We’re really going back in time,’ Shroyer’s wife, Jackie previously told the outlet.
She explained that the family’s job would be teaching the region’s youngest residents about Christianity and God’s love.
‘Most of these kids have never even heard the name of Jesus,’ the mother of five said.
‘That’s why we’re going … to teach them about the love that the Father has for them — that they are important, and that they matter.’
‘I’m really excited to get into the community and meet tons of people and form a lot of new relationships,’ their 13-year-old daughter, Bella, told the outlet.
At what price Jesus?
Shroyer, 44, had previously worked as a police officer for the Detroit Lakes Police Department in 2013 and then as a real estate agent before becoming a pastor, according to the Detroit Lakes Tribune.
In 2021, he and his wife, Jackie, started doing missionary work.
The couple had previously been to Angola on a two-week mission project before relocating to the African nation, but Jackie said they had never been to the village where they planned on setting up shop and preaching the gospel.
Following his death, SIM USA President Randy Fairman wrote to Lakes Area Vineyard Church that the Shroyers were among the first families to move to Angola after pandemic lockdowns eased.
Fairman said he was heading to Angola to comfort the family and provide more information to the congregation.
‘It is my belief that from his vantage point, he can see how his family will be cared for, and it is not hard for him to trust our good Father,’ Fairman wrote in his release.
‘From our perspective and the perspective of Jackie and the kids, we must now trust Jesus in a season that we never imagined.’
