The General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, has explained that some of the church’s long-standing marriage rules are not biblical but administrative measures introduced by leadership to guide members.
Speaking at the 2025 Global Family and Marriage Conference, Kumuyi said practices such as the ban on a woman visiting her suitor and the previously compulsory six-month courtship period were human arrangements, not biblical commandments.
He noted that the six-month courtship rule was initially adopted to allow intending couples time to know each other but stressed that it was not binding on scripture.
“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 stated.
The cleric urged Christians to distinguish between God’s commandments and church traditions, warning against placing human regulations on the same level as 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 said.
Kumuyi further explained that the church’s marriage committees were created to guide members but not to replace scriptural 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 clarified.
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