The General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, has announced modifications to the Church’s marriage rules, clarifying that they are not scriptural but administrative guidelines.
Speaking during the 2025 Global Family and Marriage Conference on Sunday, August 31, Kumuyi said the rule that banned a lady from visiting a man she intended to marry had been cancelled.
He said that intending couples may now visit each other during courtship, provided an elder accompanies them.
Pastor Kumuyi also stated that the six-month mandatory courtship period introduced by the church is no longer compulsory, emphasising that it was a human arrangement, 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 said it is important for Christians to differentiate between God’s commandments and church traditions. He also warned 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 said.
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.
Kumuyi cautioned leaders against overstepping their limits, warning that marriage committees should not exercise authority beyond what is written in the scriptures.