By Josephine Nwachukwu
Founder and General Overseer of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi, has announced fresh changes to the church’s marriage rules.
He clarified that some long-standing practices were based on church administration rather than biblical instruction.
In his latest message, Kumuyi addressed long-standing marriage practices, notably the rule that barred a lady from visiting a man she intended to marry.
He said such visits are now allowed if an elder is present, stressing he earlier restriction was an administrative decision, not a biblical law.
On the six-month courtship guideline, Kumuyi explained:
“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 further added:
“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.”
On the role of the marriage committee, he clarified:
“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 cautioned against overreach, saying:
“Marriage committees should not exercise an authority that God has not been given them. This is just church organisation, not divine law.”
Kumuyi also reminded members of the need for spiritual maturity:
“As a Christian, you need to become so mature that you know the difference between the law of God and the principles in the church.”
He further warned that rigid practices could discourage members, insisting that the Bible, not administrative rules, must remain the ultimate guide for Christian living.
Kumuyi, a former mathematics lecturer at the University of Lagos, began the ministry in 1973 when he started a Bible study fellowship with 15 students in his campus flat.
The fellowship expanded quickly across Nigerian universities and cities, transforming into the Deeper Christian Life Ministry.
In 1982, the church held its first retreat at Ayobo, Lagos, which attracted tens of thousands. Since then, Deeper Life has grown into one of the largest Pentecostal churches in Nigeria.
Today, the church has branches in more than 60 countries across Africa, Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. Membership is estimated in the millions, with Nigeria as its strongest base.
Its international headquarters in Gbagada, Lagos, completed in 2018, features a 30,000-capacity auditorium, ranking among the largest church auditoriums in Africa.
The ministry also runs a vast campground at Ayobo, Lagos, where annual retreats and special conventions are hosted.
For decades, it has served as a spiritual hub, drawing hundreds of thousands of worshippers for Bible teaching, prayers, and evangelism.
To ease participation, the church later established regional campgrounds across Nigeria — in Aba, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Abuja, and other cities — allowing members who could not travel to Lagos to attend retreats closer to home.
Deeper Life is widely known for its strong emphasis on holiness, modesty, and evangelism.
Members are taught core doctrines that include salvation through faith in Christ, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Spirit, divine healing, holy living, and readiness for the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The church became distinctive for its strict moral standards, conservative dress code, and separation from worldly practices, which set it apart from many contemporary Pentecostal movements.
Crediblenewsng.com
