by Lucas Togan

John Kumuyi, the embattled son of the General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry, has been suspended from participating in any of the church activities till further notice due to his controversial wedding in Jamaica.

After the June 15, 2013 wedding, thousands of members of the church reacted sharply to the anti-church doctrine nature of the bride’s wedding gown and other aspects of the wedding.

The suspension (widely believed to be necessitated by the huge backlash received on various social media), according to the church, is to allow the couple to pray and seek forgiveness from God for their action. These actions include the weavon she allegedly wore, the lipstick and make-up. Also at issue was the hiring of a Limousine which conveyed the couple and the huge cake that was cut during the wedding.

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 congregation of over 50,000 Deeper Life faithfusl at the event by Pastor Philip Oluwi, a key leader in the church.

“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.

The couple has since 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.

“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 read.

And 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.”