Pastor William Kumuyi, the General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, has introduced major changes to Deeper Life marriage rules.
Speaking at the 2025 Global Family and Marriage Conference on Sunday, August 31, Kumuyi clarified that the adjustments are administrative guidelines, not scriptural commands.
Among the changes, Kumuyi repealed the rule that prohibited women from traveling to visit the men they intended to marry. He explained that engaged couples can now visit each other during courtship, provided an elder is present.
Kumuyi scrapped the mandatory six-month wooing period, stressing it was a deeper life church tradition, not a biblical requirement.
“We just felt you need some time to know one another. Six months seemed okay, but it’s not from the Bible,” he said. Kumuyi urged Christians to differentiate between church customs and divine laws, warning against treating human regulations as scripture.
He further explained that the deeper life church created marriage committees as administrative support, not as biblical authorities. “There’s no marriage committee in the New Testament. We created it to help you, not because we can give you a chapter and verse,” Kumuyi stated.
The pastor also cautioned church leaders against exceeding their authority, noting that committees should never hold more power than what the scriptures allow.
