![Culto Misionero](/sites/default/files/styles/800x500_scaled_cropped/public/2024-08/Culto%20Misionero.jpg?itok=WY30r06t)
Superintendent of Leeward Virgin Island district passes away after battle with cancer
Joscelyn Sepeter Martin, 61, passed away 21 September 2021 after a battle with cancer. He served the Church of the Nazarene for over 40 years, most recently as the Leeward Virgin Island superintendent.
Martin responded to the call to be saved, sanctified, and sent out to serve the Lord as a young man. His journey took him from the village of Aberdeen in the parish of St. Elizabeth, Jamaica, to Caribbean Nazarene Theological College (now Caribbean Nazarene College) in Santa Cruz, Trinidad, where he began theological studies in 1981.
The following year, he travelled to Guyana where, after marrying the love of his life, Sandra, in July 1982, he took up the pastorate of the Friendship Church of the Nazarene as well as the church located at Number Thirty-Five Village, remaining there until 1983.
Joscelyn had a burning passion to see the work of the Lord spread across the region. After only two years in Guyana, he moved his family to St. Vincent to take up the pastorate at the Rillan Hill Church, during which time the church founded a preschool. In 1985, the couple moved back to Trinidad so Joscelyn could complete his studies. He graduated from CNTC in 1986.
He returned to his native Jamaica in 1986 after graduation. Joscelyn was assigned to the Mineral Heights Church, which grew to over 100 members with a preschool enrollment of 140 students. Joscelyn was ordained in 1988.
By 1993, the Martin family headed back to Guyana to pastor the Queenstown Church of the Nazarene located in the eastern section of the capital city, Georgetown. They pastored there for three years before answering a call from the All Saints Church of the Nazarene located in the village of the same name in Antigua.
At the All Saints Church, Joscelyn and his family dove deep into the work of ministry and community building. They busied themselves with building the church and impacting the lives of those they encountered in the community. A fervent cricket fan and sportsman, Joscelyn threw himself into the village’s cricketing and sporting fraternity and served as a mentor to several of the younger men he met. As he matured and his ministry grew, Joscelyn became involved in the work of the local United Evangelical Association, rising to lead the organization as president from 2000 to 2005 and remaining a member of the executive committee until his death.
Martin was appointed superintendent of the Dominica District in 2016. The next year, he was appointed superintendent of the Leeward Virgin Islands District and served in that position until his death.
He is survived by his loving wife of 39 years, Sandra Martin, their two adult children, Josiah and LaFleur, and two grandchildren, Josiah Jr. and Raina.