A 71-year-old Seattle missionary abducted last month from a school in Nigeria has been released and is safe , the Free Methodist Church USA said Friday . In a statement on the church website , Bishop David Kendall said the Reverend Phyllis Sortor was released Friday evening , Nigeria time , 'into the care of authorities and Free Methodist Church leaders ' . Armed men abducted her on February 23 from the Hope Academy compound in Emiworo , Kogi state . Scroll down for video . Phyllis Sortor , 71 , was abducted on February 23 from a Christian school in Nigeria . She was released on Friday and is safe . Masked gunman raided a Christian school and fired sporadically to scare people away before taking Sortor hostage . 'We are deeply grateful to all who prayed for Phyllis ' safe return and praise God the family representative was able to secure her release , ' Kendall said in his statement . He provided no details about how the release was arranged . '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 , ' the bishop said . Kogi State police said shortly after the abduction that the men who took Sortor had demanded a ransom of nearly $ 300,000 . Police said they were collaborating with security forces to secure her return . Friends described Sortor as courageous , tenacious and passionate about helping the people of Nigeria and said she was aware of the dangers . Sortor has been working as a missionary for ten years . Her friends say she was passionate about helping people in Nigeria and aware of the dangers of working there . She had spent years living in Africa , including Mozambique - where she spent much of her childhood - later working in Rwanda and , since 2005 , Nigeria , Kendall said . Her work in Kogi was focused primarily on educational development and conflict resolution between nomadic herdsmen and farming communities who frequently clash in central Nigeria 's Middle Belt region , the church statement further said . Foreign nationals have often been kidnapped in Nigeria by local gangs who typically release hostages following a ransom payment . Such abductions are especially common in the southern , oil-producing Niger Delta , where expatriates working with large oil companies have been a frequent target . A number of foreigners have also been kidnapped in the north of the country , but those attacks claimed by Boko Haram or the associated Islamist group Ansaru are considered a different phenomenon , and not necessarily motivated by a desire for ransom . Boko Haram has been blamed for previous attacks in Kogi , including two raids targeting the same prison in 2012 and 2014 . Nigeria 's Islamists groups have in the past publicly claimed the abduction of expatriates and the lack of such a claim following Sortor 's kidnapping led many to believe that Boko Haram and its affiliates were not involved .
Masked gunman raided a Christian store and fired sporadically to lure people away before taking miss Sortor hostage on February 19 . Free Methodist Church USA claimed she was released on Friday . Gunmen previously demanded $ 300,000 for the girl 's release . Sorter has been working as a missionary for the past ten years .