The General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, has announced significant adjustments to the church’s long-standing marriage guidelines, clarifying that many of the rules were administrative measures rather than biblical commands.
Speaking on Sunday, August 31, during the 2025 Global Family and Marriage Conference, Kumuyi explained that the directive prohibiting ladies from visiting men they intended to marry had been scrapped. He said that intending couples are now permitted to visit each other during courtship, provided an elder is present.
The respected cleric also revealed that the six-month compulsory courtship period, previously enforced by the church, is no longer binding. According to him, the timeline was introduced to help couples understand one another, but was not rooted in scripture.
“We just felt you needed some time to know one another. And then we said one month would be too short, two months too short. So, why not six months? But it is not from the Bible,” he stated.
Also Read: Morayo Afolabi-Brown Reveals Depression, Suicidal Thoughts Before Exit
Kumuyi urged Christians to distinguish between God’s laws and church traditions, stressing that human regulations should never be elevated to divine commandments.
He further noted that the marriage committees established by the church were purely administrative, designed to offer support rather than serve as replacements for biblical authority.
“There’s no marriage committee in the New Testament. We created it to help you, not because we can give you a chapter and a verse,” he said, cautioning leaders against exceeding scriptural boundaries in their roles.
