ST. MARTIN'S CATHOLIC CHURCH, MASAKA.

HISTORY OF ST. MARTINS MASAKA

“The Kingdom of Heaven is like this: A man takes a mustard seed and sows it in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows up, it is the biggest of all plants. It becomes a tree, so that birds come and make their nests in its branches.” Matt. 13:31-32.

This passage of scripture best describes the faith experience of St. Martin’s Quasi Parish located in Masaka Karu Local government area of Nasarawa State. The church really had humble beginnings. It began most probably in 1962 at the present day St. Martin’s primary school, a Local Government managed school in Masaka. The school is located opposite ECWA church, Area I, Masaka. Settlers from southern Kaduan had located Masaka as a viable place to stay. They soon established a school for their children to learn, but they had a problem. Most of them were already Catholic converts and the Gbagis who were the original inhabitants of Masaka were evangelized by ECWA and they already had a comparatively thriving ecclesia community. The settlers therefore decided to use one of the hots constructed as a classroom for worship on Sundays. As more people migrated to Masaka, the little church grew in population. Contact was made with Keffi which already had missionary priests of the SMA working there and Masaka promptly became an outstation of St. Peter’s Keffi.