Pastor William Kumuyi offered to resign as General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church following the controversy that trailed the wedding of his second son, John.
John Kumuyi and his wife, Love had engaged in acts, which negated the church’s tradition during their wedding held in Jamaica on June 15, 2013. Love, who is a daughter of the National Overseer of Deeper Life Bible Church, Jamaica, Pastor Augustine Odih, was dressed in a fitted stylish wedding gown with transparent short sleeves. She also wore makeup, jewelry and carried a bouquet of flowers. The couple cruised in a limousine and had a huge wedding cake.
The misdemeanor, which attracted widespread criticisms, had earned the newlyweds suspension from church activities despite showing remorse and tendering an apology to the church, blaming their misconduct on the fact that both of them had resided abroad for so long.
Sunday Sun gathered that the practice in the Deeper Christian Life Ministry is that if members’ children misbehave, both the children and their parents get punished on the grounds that it’s the parents’ failing in their responsibilities that made the children to err. Although the children involved in the Jamaican wedding infraction are adults, the leadership of the church regarded their action as a strong breach of its tradition, and immediately removed the bride’s father, from his position as National Overseer in Jamaica.
To demonstrate that there is no double standard in the church, it was further learnt that Pastor Kumuyi, at the meeting held by the leadership of the church on the matter, offered to resign as General Superintendent, but was prevailed upon not to.
According to the Sunday Sun source, the General Superintendent did not take kindly to the couple’s behaviour and, unlike Eli in the Bible who did not discipline his sons and incurred the wrath of God, Pastor Kumuyi had ensured that the offenders were sanctioned.
Meanwhile, the suspension of John and his wife from church activities has provoked mixed reactions from notable church leaders and other Nigerians.
Outspoken Pastor and the General Overseer of Latter Rain Assembly, Pastor Tunde Bakare who was once a member of the church condemned the punishment meted out by the church, describing it as wicked. Said Pastor Bakare: “I personally did not see what they have done wrong. A man is entitled to his own authority in his own home.1st Peter Chapter 3. A wife should dress to please the husband and not the members of the church or public. It’s sheer wickedness to the couple, they should leave them to enjoy their honeymoon. They should not squeeze them to the modus operandi of a particular organization. I did not see anything wrong in the wedding. The bride was not naked or dressed inappropriately and the groom didn’t. Esther the queen was beautifully dressed in the bible to gain the king’s attention. They should not make mountain out of a molehill. I was in the Deeper Life Bible Church for five years and nobody compelled me to dress the way I dressed. My wife was with me in the church though we weren’t married then. She wears earrings and dresses nicely. All this talk about this couple should stop.”
In the same vein, a leader of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria (PFN) in Osun State and General Overseer of the Royal Family Life Ministry, Pastor Sam Segun-Progress described the suspension of John Kumuyi and his wife from the church as a wrong decision taken by the leadership as capable of sending wrong signals about Christianity to the public, especially non-Christians.
He said: “dressing in any way does not affect the faith of any individual. Putting on earrings and making up do not by any way mean sinful acts. It’s not against Christian faith to dress the way the woman dressed. But it was actually against the doctrine of Deeper Life Bible Church, and since the church is not the Kingdom of God, the couple should be allowed to do that which pleases them and their belief.”
According to him, the Bible states clearly that, “there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus,” adding, “for any church leader to condemn a member contravenes the standard of the scripture, which is the symbol of our Christian faith. The doctrine of any church has nothing to do with the kingdom of God. Every individual should be allowed to do that which pleases his faith,” he added.
The Osogbo-based Christian leader who noted that the church should be a rehabilitation centre, said “I would have appreciated it better if this affected couple were just disciplined within the church and were not suspended,” saying that the suspension of the two notable members of the church was capable of sending them out of the church and Christianity totally.”
Read more in the Sunday Sun