A trusting Ethiopian pastor who responded to a request to come pray for a sick friend was lured to his death, according to International Christian Concern.

Evangelist Abraham Abera had felt the Holy Spirit’s call to minister at Kale Hiwot Church in Worabe, Ethiopia, an area that is 97 percent Muslim.

Around 9:30 p.m. on April, four Muslim men arrived at the church with the urgent message that a friend was sick. Abraham stepped outside the church to go with them.

However once outside, the men turned on him and began to beat him with clubs. The minister’s pregnant wife, Birtukan, saw the attack and ran to intervene, but was beaten as well.

Abraham apparently died there on the street. His wife, who sustained a severe head injury, was left unconscious in the street. She was found and taken to a hospital in nearby Butajira, where she regained consciousness on April 22 and was able to recount the details of the attack.

Birtukan spoke with an ICC source and said she knew two of the attackers. She said as the Muslim men were beating her and her husband, they told them, “You (Christians) are growing in number in our area. You are spreading your message. We will destroy you.”

Her unborn baby was apparently uninjured, doctors said.

did suffer injuries to her mid-section, her unborn baby fortunately survived the attack.

The attackers still remain at large. A Christian leader in the area told ICC that the attackers are unlikely to bearrested since local officials are also Muslims.

“Christians in Worabe and its surrounding areas are persecuted at the hands of Muslim radicals, and the local government officials, who are Muslims, don’t protect Christians,” he said. “We urge the higher government authorities to intervene and protect us.”

“The brutal killing of Evangelist Abraham and the beating of his wife, Birtukan, is deeply troubling. We urge the federal government authorities to investigate this attack as well as reports of persecution against Christians in the Silte zone,” said Jonathan Racho, ICC’s Regional Manager for Africa.

“Please call Ethiopian Embassy in your country,” an ICC spokesman requested. “Ask Ethiopian authorities to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice.”