The leadership of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry has suspended the
son of the General Superintendent of the church and his wife, John and
Love Kumuyi from carrying out any activity in the church over their
recent controversial wedding in Jamaica.
John and Love wedded in
Jamaica on 15 June, 2013 and thousands of members of the church have
reacted sharply while condemning the wedding gown worn by the wife and
other aspects of the wedding that were at variance with the church’s
standard.
She was decked in attires quite different from the acceptable standard set for Deeper Life members by the church.
Love
was arrayed in flowing gown with a veil to match, while lots of people
said her hair wasn’t natural and that she applied lipstick as part of
the make-up.
Also at issue was the hiring of a Limousine which
conveyed the couple to their destination after the wedding. And a huge
cake was cut during the wedding contrary to the church’s tradition.
Due
to the myriad of controversies generated by the wedding on social
media, Facebook, especially by members of Deeper Life, the church
decided to place the couple on suspension to give them time to pray and
seek forgiveness from God for their action.
On Saturday, at
Deeper Life’s monthly miracle and revival programme held at the Deeper
Life Conference Centre, DLCC, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, John and Love’s
suspension from church work was announced to the over 50,000 Deeper Life
faithful at the event by Pastor Philip Oluwi, a key leader in the
church.
Oluwi, certainly is acting on the instruction from the
General Superintendent of the church, Pastor William Kumuyi, to suspend
the couple for the embarrassment they brought upon the church during the
wedding, emphasizing that the standard of Deeper Life regarding wedding
and moderacy had not changed.
“The church, Deeper Life, remains
committed to the biblical practice and standard of almost 40 years
Christian dressing and still remains and does not compromise on biblical
Christian dressing.
“Hence, deviation warrants the displeasure
and frown of God and the leadership of the church. John and Love are now
under discipline,” Oluwi announced to the entire congregation, an
action that helped to calm the nerves of many Deeper Life faithful.
Also,
the couple has apologised to the church for the embarrassing way the
wedding was conducted. The letter was read by Oluwi and re-read
severally to church members by the Church’s Secretary, Pastor Jerry
Asemota.
The letter addressed to the Church Secretary, with the
heading: “Letter of Apology,” expressed the deepest regret of the couple
for bringing the church into disrepute.
The letter reads: “We
unreservedly and wholeheartedly state that we did not intend and do not
intend that our act or omissions in any way undermine the great work
that God has done through the Deeper Christian Life Ministry through our
father in the Lord, the General Superintendent.
“We also use
this medium to profusely and sincerely apologise to the General
Superintendent (Kumuyi) of the church for the embarrassment and
heartache our action has caused him; more so as he had earlier declined
to be at the event. We acknowledge that we may have benn distracted by
cultural differences as we both have lived outside Nigeria for nearly
two decades.”
The letter added: “This notwithstanding, we fully
accept that having been nurtured, taught and brought up with the sound
teaching of the word of God, we should have been able to draw the line
which we failed to do. We have now realised the far reaching effect of
our actions and omissions and do plead with the church for forgiveness
and also appeal that any action that should be taken be directed at John
and Love, as we take this time to prayerfully reflect on our actions.
“We
take full responsibility for what has happened and this action should
in no way be blamed on the General Superintendent or the leaders of the
church in Nigeria, United States, Jamaica, or United Kingdom and
beyond.”
However, P.M.NEWS investigation revealed that John and
Love’s wedding was not conducted in a Deeper Life Bible Church. It was
also not conducted by pastors from the church as Deeper Life Bible
Church in Jamaica has not been licensed by the country’s government to
join couples in wedlock, according to the laws of Jamaica.
The
wedding was taken to another church where the ministers in the unnamed
church conducted the wedding and joined them in holy matrimony.
Besides,
Deeper Life leaders that came from Nigeria were said to have
disapproved of the earlier gown Love was to wear for the wedding, while
another was hurriedly sewed the night before the wedding.
Church
leaders were said not to have seen the new dress until the couple was
marching into the church and by then, it was too late to take any action
as the wedding was not conducted in a Deeper Life church.]
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