The General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, has announced significant changes to the church’s long-standing marriage rules, clarifying that many of them were administrative traditions rather than biblical commandments.
Speaking on Sunday, August 31, 2025, during the Global Family and Marriage Conference, Pastor Kumuyi explained that the church had reviewed some of its rules on Christian courtship and marriage.
One of the major changes includes the cancellation of the rule that prohibited a lady from visiting a man she intended to marry. According to Kumuyi, intending couples may now visit each other during courtship, provided that an elder accompanies them.
He also noted that the six-month mandatory courtship period introduced by the church is no longer compulsory, stressing that it was never a scriptural requirement but simply an administrative guideline.
“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,” Kumuyi said.
Pastor Kumuyi emphasized the need for Christians to distinguish between God’s commandments and church traditions, warning against equating human regulations with divine authority.
“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 explained.
The revered cleric further explained that marriage committees were established in the church for guidance, not 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. It is church administration,” Kumuyi said.
He cautioned leaders against abusing their roles, insisting that no committee or church tradition should exercise authority beyond what is written in the Scriptures.
This bold review of marriage rules by Pastor Kumuyi has sparked discussions among Christians, with many seeing it as a step towards aligning church practices with biblical principles rather than rigid traditions.
