The General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, has clarified that some of the church’s marriage rules are administrative measures put in place by leadership to guide members.
Speaking during the 2025 Global Family and Marriage Conference, Kumuyi said the ban, which prevented a lady from visiting a man she intended to marry, was an administrative measure and not a biblical command.
The cleric also stated that the six-month mandatory courtship period introduced by the church was no longer compulsory, stressing that it was a human arrangement and not a biblical command.
“We just felt you need some time to know one another. And then we said one month will be too short, two months too short. So, why not six months? But it is not from the Bible,” he said.
Kumuyi emphasised the need for Christians to differentiate between God’s commandments and church traditions, warning against treating human regulations as divine.
“As a Christian, you need to be so mature that you know the difference between the law of God and the principles in the church. Six months is all right, but it’s not something inflexible. If we change it to three months, we’re not changing the Bible, because six months is not in the Bible,” he added.
He further explained that the church’s marriage committees were created only to provide guidance and not to replace 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. It is church administration,” he said.
