At the 2025 Global Family and Marriage Conference, Pastor William Kumuyi, General Superintendent of Deeper Christian Life Ministry, announced significant changes to longstanding marriage guidelines—emphasizing that they stem from church administration, not scripture.
Firstly, the rule barring women from visiting the homes of men they intend to marry has been lifted. Now, intending couples can visit one another during courtship—as long as they’re accompanied by an elder.
Moreover, the six-month mandatory courtship period is no longer compulsory. According to Kumuyi, that timeline was arbitrarily chosen for practicality, not because it was scripturally mandated:
“We just felt you need some time to know one another. … Six months … is not from the Bible.”
Moving forward, Kumuyi urged members to distinguish between God’s laws and church principles, warning against treating administrative rules as divine doctrines.
“Marriage committees should not exercise an authority that God has not given them. … It is church administration.”
He also cautioned that rigid, man-made rules have driven some members away:
“I’ve met people who left the church because of marriage challenges … not because of the Bible, but because of our rules.”
