The General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, has announced changes to the church’s long-standing marriage rules, clarifying that they were never biblical commands but only administrative guidelines.
Speaking at the 2025 Global Family and Marriage Conference on Sunday, Kumuyi said the ban which stopped ladies from visiting men they intended to marry had been cancelled.
He explained that couples preparing for marriage can now visit each other during courtship, provided an elder is present.
Kumuyi also revealed that the six-month compulsory courtship period introduced by the church is no longer mandatory. He stressed that it was only a human arrangement and not a command from the Bible.
“We just felt couples should have time to know one another. We said one month was too short, two months too short, so why not six months? But it is not from the Bible,” he said.
The cleric urged Christians to understand the difference between God’s commandments and church traditions, warning against treating man-made rules as divine laws.
“As a Christian, you need to be mature enough to know what comes from God and what comes from church principles. Six months is okay, but it’s not fixed. If it becomes three months, it does not mean we are changing the Bible, because six months is not in the Bible,” he added.
He further explained that the church’s marriage committees were created to give guidance, not to replace biblical authority.
“There is no marriage committee in the New Testament. We created it to help, not because there is a chapter or verse that commands it. It is simply church administration,” he said.
Kumuyi also cautioned leaders not to overstep their limits, saying marriage committees must not go beyond what the scriptures allow.
The development comes as Kumuyi continues to review several church practices, many of which, he said, were introduced for administrative purposes and not rooted in the Bible.
