With the beginning of the Reformation, there was a rift between the monastery and the town, when the citizens forced the parish churches to open up to Luther's new doctrine.At Christmas 1529, the reformer Nikolaus Krage preached for the first time in St. Martini's So this is also one of Minden's many plus points: a plus in significant history. On 13 February 1530, the Protestant church order written by Krage was read out here and unanimously adopted by the council and congregation. This Protestant church order was binding for all citizens of the city and the first church order in Westphalia.
This meant that, unlike the Catholic cathedral, St Martin's Church had become the Protestant council church. St Martin's Abbey remained Catholic - albeit with economic losses. The abbey was not abolished until 1810 by the Kingdom of Westphalia. Since then, the church has been a Protestant parish church.