General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Kumuyi, has announced major adjustments to some of the church’s long-standing marriage guidelines, emphasizing that they are administrative practices and not divine commands.
Speaking at the 2025 Global Family and Marriage Conference, Pastor Kumuyi responded to a female member’s concern about single ladies not knowing prospective husbands well enough since they were previously not allowed to visit them.
According to him, the long-held six-month courtship policy was not rooted in the Bible but was intended “to help people to keep away from sin.” However, after considering the perspective of women, he acknowledged that marriage is a lifelong commitment that could determine one’s eternal destiny. Based on this, he said he now permits visits during courtship.
“You’re marrying the man, but he has a lot of these people with him. His own mother, his own father, his own relatives, and all the people. And when you get to their houses, you’ll be able to see how they relate to you, respond to you, react to you. You’ll see how his environment is. And the man, if he’s a good, well-controlled man, can be stingy with information. While the woman is generous with information. And in the man might just smile and say, you know, everything is all right. .
“And you ask any question, everything is okay. You can never get anything positive or negative. Everything is okay. Everything is neutral. And this man is playing a game. That’s what our sister is saying. And I’m asking myself, why not? If not, follow them home,” Pastor Kumuyi affirmed.
He concluded by assuring members that he trusts their maturity, saying he is confident they would not misuse the new allowance by visiting at odd hours or engaging in inappropriate behavior.
