The General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, has announced major changes to the church’s marriage policies, explaining that the rules were administrative guidelines rather than scriptural commands.
Speaking at the 2025 Global Family and Marriage Conference on Sunday, August 31, Kumuyi revealed that the long-standing rule prohibiting a lady from visiting the man she intends to marry has been abolished.
Intending couples may now visit each other during courtship, provided an elder is present.
He also explained that the six-month mandatory courtship period introduced by the church is no longer compulsory, stressing that it was never a biblical requirement.
“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 pointed out the need for Christians to distinguish between divine commandments and human traditions.
“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 clarified that marriage committees in the church were established to offer 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 explained.
Kumuyi, however, warned church leaders against going beyond scriptural boundaries, stressing that marriage committees must not exercise authority beyond what is written in the Bible.
